alphabetum

Pronunciation

• Classical: [aɫ.pʰaˈbeː.tũː]^[1]
• Ecclesiastical: [al.faˈbɛː.tum]^[1]

Forms

alphabētum n (genitive alphabētī); second declension^[1] Spellings with ⟨f⟩, such as alfabetum, occur in manuscripts of Jerome and are common in medieval texts.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ἀλφάβητος (alphábētos, “alphabet”),^[2][4][5][3] a word made of the names of the first two Greek letters, ἄλφα (álpha) and βῆτα (bêta).^[6][7][8] Wiktionary specifies the neuter Byzantine Greek ἀλφάβητον (alphábēton), taken from the accusative of the Koine masculine.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first known use is in the Pseudo-Tertullian list of heresies, which speaks of something taken “from the alphabet of the Greeks”.^[2][9] Jerome uses it often: he notes that the Lamentations of Jeremiah contain four alphabets, that is, poems running through the letters in order, and recalls learning the Hebrew alphabet.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Late Latin it named the alphabet of any language, and, in the plural, the alphabetic sequences of acrostic poems such as those of Lamentations.^[2] Cassiodorus writes that cranes in flight trace the shapes of the alphabet.^[2]

In Medieval Latin it also meant alphabetical order, and arrangement “by the alphabet” was used for psalms and hymns.^[10][3] It came to stand for elementary teaching in reading and writing,^[11][3] and in the rite for consecrating a church it was the alphabet that the bishop traced in the shape of a cross on the floor.^[12][3] English took the word over as alphabet in the 16th century.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome writes of the four alphabets in Lamentations and of learning the Hebrew alphabet.^[2][7]
• first third of the 8th century – Bede speaks of the first letter of the alphabet.^[10][7]
• 1570s – English adopts it as alphabet.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. The alphabet.^[6][4][2]
2. (plural) The alphabetic sequences of an acrostic poem.^[2]
3. (Medieval Latin) Alphabetical order.^[10][3]
4. (Medieval Latin) Elementary instruction in reading and writing; the ABC.^[11][3]
5. (Medieval Latin, liturgy) The alphabet traced in a cross on the floor of a church at its consecration.^[12][3]

Related words

• English alphabet

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b c 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
11. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
12. ^ a b du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre