acra

Forms

acra f (genitive acrae); first declension^[1][2] Medieval texts also write acerra, agra, acris and the neuter acrum.^[2][1] British sources have achra as well.^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old English æcer (“field, acre”), the English measure of ploughland.^[3][1][2] Köbler traces the Old English word to Proto-Germanic *akraz (“field”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵros (“pasture, field”).^[4] De Vaan reconstructs the same Indo-European word, Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ-ro-, for Latin ager (“field”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates its first use to a charter of 839.^[4] The MLW quotes a Middle Rhine charter of 893 with the spelling ⟨agra⟩.^[1]

Semantic evolution

Its first meaning in British sources is a strip of ploughland, as in Domesday Book, which counts sown acres; from this it became a fixed area of ploughland, usually forty rods by four, with local variants in the Channel Islands, Cornwall and Flanders.^[3] Du Cange notes that the size of the acre differed from region to region.^[6] It was also used of uncultivated land, such as an acre of meadow or pasture.^[3][1] Another sense, the enclosed field where a judicial combat was fought, appears in a text on appeals between the kingdoms of England and Scotland.^[3]

Timeline

• 839 – A charter uses it.^[4]
• 893 – A Middle Rhine charter spells it ⟨agra⟩.^[1]
• 1159 – A Scottish royal act mentions three acres of meadow.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Medieval Latin) A strip of ploughland.^[3]
2. (Medieval Latin) An acre, a fixed measure of arable land.^[2][1][3][4]
3. (Medieval Latin) An area of uncultivated land, such as meadow or pasture.^[3]
4. (Medieval Latin) The field of a judicial combat.^[3]

Related words

• ager
• English acre

Usage notes

It is not the same as Acra, the name of a headland, Ancient Greek ἄκρα (ákra, “headland”), in Pliny the Elder (Acra Iapygia),^[7][8][4] or the neuter plural acra “extremities” that Gaffiot records in Soranus.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
2. ^ a b c d Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
7. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
9. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.