Etymology

buckthorn

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Today it means: especially genus Rhamnus, Full definition →

Latin cervī spīna
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The story

  1. Latin · calque ofcervī spīna“deer's thorny shrub”
  2. English todaybuckthorn

Calque of Latin cervī spīna (“deer's thorny shrub”), cervi (“deer's”) being the genitive singular of cervus (“deer”), from Proto-Italic *kerwos, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱr̥h₂wós, from *ḱerh₂- (“horn”) + *-wós, spīna (“thorny shrub”) from Proto-Italic *speinā, from Proto-Indo-European *spey- (“sharp point”). By surface analysis, buck + thorn.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.