cervesa

Catalan

Etymology

Inherited from Latin cervēs(i)a.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [sərˈbɛ.zə]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [sərˈvə.zə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [seɾˈve.za]

• Audio (Valencia):

  (file)

Noun

cervesa f (plural cerveses)

1. beer

Derived terms

• cerveser
• cerveseria

Further reading

• “cervesa” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “cervesa”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “cervesa” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “cervesa” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Latin

Alternative forms

• cervēsia, cerevisia, cervisa, cervisia (Classical)
• herbisa, cirvisa, cerbisa, cerbēsia, cervica (Early Medieval)

Etymology

From a derivative of Proto-Celtic *kurmi. First documented in Pliny.

information on variants

By far the most common form in Classical Latin was cervēsa, and it is particularly well-represented in the Vindolanda tablets. In Late Latin it was marginalised in favour of the forms cervēsia, cervisa, cervisia. The variant vowel ⟨i⟩ for the second syllable seems to have been short, judging by the Romance outcomes, although the Italian cervigia would suggest an additional cervīsia if it is in fact native. Cf. also the Old Spanish çervisa.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /kerˈu̯eː.sa/, [kɛrˈu̯eːs̠ä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /t͡ʃerˈve.sa/, [t͡ʃerˈvɛːs̬ä]

Noun

cervēsa f (genitive cervēsae); first declension

1. Celtic wheat-beer

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	cervēsa	cervēsae
genitive	cervēsae	cervēsārum
dative	cervēsae	cervēsīs
accusative	cervēsam	cervēsās
ablative	cervēsā	cervēsīs
vocative	cervēsa	cervēsae

Coordinate terms

• camum, cēlia, zythum

Descendants

(generally via the form cervēsia)

• Italo-Romance:
  • >? Old Italian: cervigia
• Padanian:
  • Friulian: cervese
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Catalan: cervesa
  • Occitan: cervesa
  • Old French: cervoise (see there for further descendants)
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Old Galician-Portuguese: (unattested?)
    • Galician: cervexa
    • Portuguese: cerveja (see there for further descendants)
  • Old Spanish: cervesa, çervisa
    • Spanish: cerveza (see there for further descendants)
• Borrowings:
  • → Ancient Greek: κερβησία (kerbēsía)

References

• cerevisia 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)
• “cervēs(i)a” in volume 03, column 943, line 66 in the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae (TLL Open Access), Berlin (formerly Leipzig): De Gruyter (formerly Teubner), 1900–present
• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “cervēsia”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volume 2: C Q K, page 613

Further reading

• “cervisia”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• cervīsia in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Occitan

Etymology

Inherited from Latin cervēs(i)a.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /seɾˈbezo/

• Audio (Béarn):

  (file)

Noun

cervesa f (plural cervesas)

1. beer

   Synonym: bièrra

Old Spanish

Alternative forms

• çervisa

Etymology

Inherited from Latin cervēs(i)a.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t͡seɾˈβeza/

Noun

cervesa f (plural cervesas)

1. beer

Descendants

• Spanish: cerveza (see there for further descendants)

References

• https://www.um.es/lexico-comercio-medieval/index.php/v/lexico/1261/cerveza