aedituus

Forms

aedituus m (genitive aedituī); second declension^[1] The Acts of the Arval Brothers have the accusative aedituon, and an inscription the genitive plural aedituom.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin aeditumus (“temple keeper”), the older form, through the loss of its ⟨m⟩,^[2][3] and was the commoner form in everyday speech.^[2] The OLD analyses aeditumus as a derivative of aedēs (“temple”) with the suffix -timus,^[3] and de Vaan lists both forms among the derivatives of that noun.^[4] Lewis & Short and Wiktionary instead take the word as a compound of aedis and tueor (“to watch over”).^[5][1]

The Romans themselves connected it with guarding: Varro derives the older form from guarding the temple,^[6] and Gellius calls the keeper aedituus as if named from looking after temples.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has it first, in the Curculio, for the keeper of a temple.^[2][7][8]

Semantic evolution

Varro rejected the form aedituus in favour of aeditumus,^[2] but it became general in the written language from Livy on.^[2] The keepers also showed visitors round the temple, so Horace calls the poets the aeditui of virtue, those who display its worth.^[5] In the Vulgate the plural means priests or ministers of a sanctuary,^[5] and Ecclesiastical Latin uses it for a sacristan, caretaker or warden.^[9][1] Medieval sources use it for a custodian in a house of canons, a sexton, and once a herald.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it for a temple keeper.^[2][7][8]
• 116–27 BC – Varro rejects this form for aeditumus.^[2][8]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero has temple keepers in the Verrines.^[5][8]
• 65–8 BC – Horace calls poets the keepers of virtue's temple.^[5][8]
• c. 165 AD – Gellius discusses the form.^[5][8]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it for ministers of the sanctuary.^[5][8]
• Middle Ages – It names a sacristan or sexton.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. The keeper of a temple.^[3][5]
2. (figurative) One who shows off the worth of something, as a temple keeper shows a temple.^[5]
3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A priest or minister of a sanctuary; a sacristan.^[5][9]
4. (Medieval Latin) A custodian in a house of canons; a sexton; a herald.^[10]

Word family

• aeditua
• aedituālis

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Marcus Terentius Varro, De lingua Latina (text of The Latin Library; book and paragraph numbers as there).
7. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
9. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
10. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill