Etymologically
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alea

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈaː.ɫe.a][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈaː.le.a][1]

Forms

ālea f (genitive āleae); first declension[1] The spelling alia occurs in an inscription.[2]

Etymology

It has no known etymology.[3] The OLD derives it from Ancient Greek ἠλεός (ēleós, “distraught, crazed”), a suggestion de Vaan thinks better dismissed.[2][3] De Vaan speculates that, since knucklebones were used as dice, it might come from āla (“wing; armpit”).[3] Wiktionary takes it as first “joint-bone”, from axis (“axle, pivot”) through a form ⟨*axlea⟩,[1] and Lewis & Short report Curtius' comparison with words for bone.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,[3] who has “I tricked the soldier at dice”.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is a game of chance or gambling, with āleā lūdere “to play at dice”, and also the stake, as the nuts that were the only stake in Martial.[2] Figuratively it is “the die” in Caesar's iacta ālea est “the die is cast”, which Suetonius reports.[2] It also means risk, hazard or uncertainty, as Varro's men who follow reason, not chance, and the jurist Pomponius uses it of a risky purchase, as when a fisherman's catch is bought in advance.[2] Church Latin glosses it “game with dice, dice, chance, risk, venture”.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a game of dice.[2][3][6]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro of chance as opposed to reason.[2][6]
  • c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius reports Caesar's “the die is cast”.[2][6]
  • 40–102/103 AD – Martial of nuts as a stake.[2][6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A game of chance, dice, gambling; the stake; figuratively, the die.[2][4][5][1]
  2. Risk, hazard, uncertainty; a risky venture.[2][5]

Word family

  • āleāris
  • āleārius
  • āleātor
  • āleō
  • āleātōrium
  • āleātōrius

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de