cicer

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See also: Cicer

Latin

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Etymology

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A Wanderwort akin to Old Armenian սիսեռն (siseṙn, chickpea), Ancient Macedonian κίκερροι (kíkerrhoi, chickpea), perhaps also Ancient Greek κριός (kriós, a variety of chickpea). Compare also Old Georgian ცერცჳ (cercwi, broad bean; Vicia faba), whence Georgian ცერცვი (cercvi).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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cicer n (genitive ciceris); third declension

  1. chickpea
    • Columella, Res Rustica, 2.10.19.
      Cicer aut cicercula, quae piso est similis, mense Ianuario aut Februario seri debet laeto loco caelo umido
      The chickpea or the chickling-vetch, which has a resemblance to the pea, should be sown in January or February in rich soil if the weather is moist.
  2. (slang) testicle
    • Juvenal, Satires, 6.373.
      Ergo expectatos ac iussos crescere primum testiculos, postquam coeperunt esse bilibres, tonsoris tantum damno rapit Heliodorus. Mangonum pueros vera ac miserabilis urit debilitas, follisque pudet cicerisque relicti.
      Therefore, the testicles were expected and ordered to grow. After they began to weigh two pounds, Heliodorus tore them off to the detriment of the barber. The loss was real and miserable for the boys of the slave-mongers, it shamed them to be left with only a small purse and a chickpea.

Declension

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Third-declension noun (neuter, imparisyllabic non-i-stem).

singular plural
nominative cicer cicera
genitive ciceris cicerum
dative cicerī ciceribus
accusative cicer cicera
ablative cicere ciceribus
vocative cicer cicera

Derived terms

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  • cicercula
  • > Vulgar Latin: *cicerō (inherited)
  • Cicerō

Descendants

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References

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