aluta

Forms

alūta f (genitive alūtae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is related to alūmen (“alum”),^[2][3][4] and was first an adjective, with “hide” or “material” understood;^[4][1] Wiktionary explains it as the feminine of an unattested ⟨*alūtus⟩ “treated with alum”.^[1] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of that noun, which he traces to Proto-Italic *alu- (“bitter substance”);^[5] Wiktionary connects this with Proto-Indo-European *h₂elut (“beer”).^[1] De Vaan's cognates are Lithuanian alùs (“beer”), Old Norse ǫl (“beer, drinking feast”) and Old English ealu (“ale”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cato,^[6] but the earliest use the OLD records is in Lucilius, of a leather purse.^[2][7][8]

Semantic evolution

It was a soft, supple leather, probably prepared with alum:^[4][7] Caesar uses it of finely dressed hides,^[2][4] and Scribonius Largus spreads a medicine on it.^[2][7] From the material it came to mean things made of it: a shoe, white or black, in Ovid, Martial and Juvenal;^[2][4][7] a purse in Lucilius and Juvenal;^[2][7] and in Ovid a small patch worn as a beauty spot.^[2][7] Martial applies it obscenely to a flaccid penis.^[2][7][8]

In medieval British sources it is tawed leather, the material of hose and boots, bought by the dozen skins.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius uses it for a purse.^[2][7][6]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it of finely dressed hides.^[2][4][6]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it for a shoe and for a beauty patch.^[2][7][6]
• 1225 – An English record uses it for leather hose.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A soft leather, probably dressed with alum; a piece of it.^[2][4][7]
2. A shoe of such leather.^[2][4]
3. A leather purse.^[2][7]
4. A small patch worn as a beauty spot.^[2][7]
5. (vulgar) A flaccid penis.^[2][7]
6. (Medieval Latin) Tawed leather.^[9]

Word family

• alutacius

Usage notes

Alūta was also the name of a river in Dacia, now the Olt,^[3][1] which Wiktionary takes to be probably of Celtic origin.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ 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