sturnus

See also: Sturnus

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *storo- (“starling”) or *(s)tern- (“starling”), same ultimate source as Old Prussian starnite (“gull”), English starling. Traditionally, perhaps spuriously, associated with Ancient Greek ψάρ (psár, “starling”), cognate with English sparrow through an etymon with similar sound.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈstur.nus/, [ˈs̠t̪ʊrnʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈstur.nus/, [ˈst̪urnus]

Noun

sturnus m (genitive sturnī); second declension

1. starling

Declension

Second-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	sturnus	sturnī
Genitive	sturnī	sturnōrum
Dative	sturnō	sturnīs
Accusative	sturnum	sturnōs
Ablative	sturnō	sturnīs
Vocative	sturne	sturnī

Descendants

• → Albanian: shturë
• Italian: storno
• Sicilian: struneḍḍu
• Rhaeto-Romance:
  • Ladino: storno
• ⇒ Late Latin: sturnellus
  • → Maltese: sturnell
  • Old French: esturnel
    • French: étourneau
  • Old Occitan:
    • Catalan: estornell
    • Occitan: estornèl
  • Rhaeto-Romance:
    • Friulian: sturnel
    • Romansch: sturnel
• ⇒ Late Latin: sturnīnus
  • Old Galician-Portuguese:
    • Galician: estorniño, estornillo
    • Portuguese: estorninho
  • Old Spanish:
    • Spanish: estornino

References

• “sturnus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• sturnus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• sturnus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.