Tarentum

Forms

Tarentum n sg (genitive Tarentī); second declension^[1] Also Tarentus or Tarentos, feminine.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek Τάρας (Táras), the Greek name of the town,^[3][1][4] which also had the form Ταρεντός (Tarentós).^[5] Köbler explains it as “the town on the river Tara”, following Frisk.^[4] Wiktionary calls the origin of the Greek name uncertain, probably Pre-Greek, and compares an Illyrian word for “oak”.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's first citation is from Ennius.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It was a town of southern Italy, founded by Spartan Parthenians, now Taranto;^[3][2] Horace calls it “Spartan Tarentum” (Lacedaemonium Tarentum).^[2] Its adjective is Tarentīnus, used of its wool, its harbour and its gulf.^[3] Pomponius Mela, Silius Italicus and Florus also have the form Tarentus.^[2][3]

The Italian name Taranto continues the Latin one.^[6] In the Latin place names of later centuries Tarentum could also stand for Trento.^[7]

Timeline

• 204–169 BC – Ennius names the town.^[2][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero names it in his dialogue on old age.^[2][4]
• 65–8 BC – Horace calls it Spartan Tarentum.^[2][4]
• 43/44 AD – Pomponius Mela has the feminine Tarentus.^[2][4]
• 25–101 AD – Silius Italicus also has Tarentus.^[2][3][4]

Meanings

Proper noun

1. Tarentum, a Greek town in the south of Italy, now Taranto.^[2][3]

Word family

• Tarentīnus

Usage notes

The OLD lists a second Tarentum (also Terentum, masculine Tarentos), a part of the Campus Martius on its western side,^[2] where the Secular Games were held;^[5][8] Ovid names it in the Fasti.^[2][8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ Graesse, J. G. Th., Friedrich Benedict, and Ernst Plechl (1909), Orbis Latinus: Lexikon lateinischer geographischer Namen, 2nd ed., Berlin: R. C. Schmidt
8. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.