ampla

Forms

ampla f (genitive amplae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is probably from Latin amplus (“large, ample”): de Vaan takes its meaning to be an idiomatic use of the adjective,^[2] and Wiktionary also derives it from the adjective.^[1] Older explanations set up *am-la from a root meaning “to grasp”: the OLD compares ames (“pole”), ansa (“handle”) and manus (“hand”),^[3] and Pokorny tentatively puts it with the adjective under Proto-Indo-European *am- (“to grab”).^[4] The TLL calls the origin uncertain.^[5]

De Vaan derives the adjective from Proto-Italic *am-lo- (“seizable”) and Proto-Indo-European *h3mh3- (“to grab”), but notes that the sound change this requires is hard to explain.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's only citation is Cicero's speeches against Verres, where the word means an opportunity, something to take hold of.^[3][6] De Vaan also gives Cicero as the first author.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The literal sense, the handle or grip of a shield, is found only late: Ammianus Marcellinus tells of a shield of which only the handle was left, and Servius uses ampla to translate a Greek word for a handle.^[5][6][7] Georges treats it as a synonym of ansa.^[8]

In Medieval Latin Köbler records a separate use for “extent”, taken from amplus, in Guido of Arezzo.^[9] Du Cange quotes the phrase ampla pectoris for the middle of the chest from a chronicle.^[10]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it in the figurative sense “opportunity”.^[3][9]
• c. 390 AD – Ammianus Marcellinus uses it for the handle of a shield.^[5][7][9]
• c. 400 AD – Servius gives it as the Latin for a Greek word meaning “handle”.^[5][7][9]
• first half of the 11th century – Guido of Arezzo uses it for “extent”.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A handle or grip, especially that of a shield.^[5][7][6]
2. (figurative) An opportunity, a “handle” for doing something.^[3][6]
3. (Medieval Latin) Extent, size.^[9]

Related words

• amplus

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
5. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
9. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
10. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre