tremulus

Latin

Etymology 1

From tremō (“tremble”) +‎ -ulus (“-ing”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈtre.mu.lus/, [ˈt̪rɛmʊɫ̪ʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈtre.mu.lus/, [ˈt̪rɛːmulus]

Adjective

tremulus (feminine tremula, neuter tremulum); first/second-declension adjective

1. shaking, quaking, quivering, trembling, tremulous

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

Number	Singular				Plural
Case / Gender	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter		Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	tremulus	tremula	tremulum		tremulī	tremulae	tremula
Genitive	tremulī	tremulae	tremulī		tremulōrum	tremulārum	tremulōrum
Dative	tremulō		tremulō		tremulīs
Accusative	tremulum	tremulam	tremulum		tremulōs	tremulās	tremula
Ablative	tremulō	tremulā	tremulō		tremulīs
Vocative	tremule	tremula	tremulum		tremulī	tremulae	tremula

Derived terms

• tremulō

Descendants

• With the original sense of 'trembling':
  • Galician: tremo
  • Italian: tremolo
  • Old Occitan: tremol
  • Sardinian: tremulu
• With the sense of 'electric ray':
  • Galician: tremo
  • Italian: tremola ⇒ tremella
  • Middle French: tremble, tromble
  • Occitan: tremolina
• With the sense of 'tremor, minor earthquake':
  • Galician: tremo
  • Spanish: tiemblo
• With the sense of 'quaking bog':
  • Galician: tremo, trema, trémbora
• With the sense of 'clover':
  • ⇒ Old French: tranline, trambline
  • ⇒ Picard: tramène
  • ⇒ Walloon: trimbleune
• Learned borrowings:
  • → Catalan: trèmul
  • → English: tremulous
  • → Galician: trémulo
  • → Italian: tremulo
  • → Portuguese: trémulo, trêmulo
  • → Spanish: trémulo

Etymology 2

Substantivization of etymology 1. Attested in the sixth century in the works of Plinius Valerius.

Noun

tremulus m (genitive tremulī); second declension (Late Latin)

1. quaking aspen, trembling poplar

Declension

Second-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	tremulus	tremulī
Genitive	tremulī	tremulōrum
Dative	tremulō	tremulīs
Accusative	tremulum	tremulōs
Ablative	tremulō	tremulīs
Vocative	tremule	tremulī

Descendants

• Italo-Romance:
  • Italian: tremula
• North Italian:
  • Ladin: tremolo
  • Piedmontese: tremmu, termu
  • Romansch: triembal, trembel
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Catalan: trèmol
  • Franco-Provençal: trembllo
  • French: tremble
  • Occitan: tremol, tremola, tremble
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Spanish: tiemblo

References

• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “trĕmŭlus”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), volumes 13: To–Tyrus, page 245

Further reading

• “tremulus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “tremulus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• tremulus 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)
• tremulus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.