Reconstruction:Latin/circa

This Latin entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Latin

Etymology

From Latin circus (“ring, hoop”), either a direct feminization of it or a deverbal of circāre, itself a verb based on circus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈt͡serka/, /ˈt͡ʃ-/

Noun

*circa f (plural *circās) (Proto-Western-Romance)

1. surrounding structure

Descendants

• Old Catalan: cerca (“enclosure”)
  • Catalan: cerca
  • → Medieval Latin: cercas (hapax, only found as plural)
• Old French: cerche (“circular structure”)
  • Middle French: cerche, cherche
    • French: cherche (/ʃ-/ via assimilation), cerce (/-s/ via assimilation or analogy with cerceau)
  • → Middle English: sarse, saarce, scarce, sarce, sarche, sars, sarss
    • English: searce, sarse
    • Scots: search
• Old Northern Italian: cerca (“enclosure”)
• Portuguese: cerca (“fence, enclosing wall”)
• Spanish: cerca (“fence, enclosing wall”)

References

• “cerca” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
• “cerce”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
• Joan Coromines, José A. Pascual (1984) “cerco”, in Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico (in Spanish), volumes II (Ce–F), Madrid: Gredos, →ISBN, page 42
• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “cĭrcus”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), volume 20: Autres langues, page 708