vernus

Etymology
Ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European "spring" (also reconstructed alternatively as *wésr̥ or *wḗsr̥), the root of Latin  "spring". The details of the derivation differ between sources. Vernus could be the reflex of a deadverbial adjective in -*no- built on a locative form of the *wósr̥/*wésr̥/*wḗsr̥ noun. Piotr Gąsiorowski (2012) presents the following derivation from the PIE locative stem *wesri where the final Latin form vernus results from haplology or syncope of *er: *wesri-no- > *wezr̥₂no- > *wererno- > vernus. In the case of a locative formation, vernus could instead come from a form vēri-no (with syncope of *i) (Alan Nussbaum, cited in de Vaan, 2008). As an alternative to the locative derivation, de Vaan suggests that the word could come from *wesinos (with rhotacism of *s and syncope of *i). .

Pronunciation


There seems to be no definite evidence of the length of the vowel in the first syllable in Classical Latin. Some etymologies imply an originally short vowel; furthermore, it is hypothesized that at certain points in time, an originally long vowel in Latin was subject to shortening (called Osthoff's Law) before any consonant cluster starting with a resonant. On the other hand, some sources give the pronunciation of this word as vērnus because of the long vowel in the related noun ; it is plausible that analogical pressure from the noun could have resulted in the adjective having a long vowel in Classical Latin, even if a short vowel would be expected as the outcome of regular phonetic changes. (Compare the lack of Osthoff's Law–shortening in from  .)

Adjective

 * 1)  spring; vernal