angaria

Forms

angaria f (genitive angariae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ἀγγαρεία (angareía, “service; compulsory service”),^[1][2][3] from ἄγγαρος (ángaros, “Persian mounted courier”).^[1][4] Niermeyer gives the chain as Greek from Persian.^[5] Beekes treats the Greek word as a loanword whose exact source is unknown, noting that Schmitt defends an Iranian origin and that Mancini reconstructs Old Persian *angarā-.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler first finds it in the Theodosian Code,^[6] where it means the compulsory services connected with the imperial post.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Roman law used it for the services owed to the state, especially transport for the public post, and then for service to a lord in general.^[2][7][5] In Medieval Latin the range widened: carrying services imposed by lords, the loan of a horse, a cart or waggon, any service laid on a person or land, a payment in kind, a levy on goods brought to market, an oppressive charge, and coercion.^[5][3] The plural angariae named the Ember Days, the usual terms for paying dues.^[5][8] It lives on in Italian angheria and Spanish anguera.^[9]

Timeline

• 438 AD – The Theodosian Code uses it.^[6]
• 533 AD – The Digest uses it of services owed to the state.^[7][6]
• 1077 – A charter of William I exempts a monastery from all angaria of royal and episcopal officers.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. Compulsory services connected with the imperial post.^[2][7]
2. Service owed to a lord, villeinage, corvée.^[7][5][10]
3. (Medieval Latin) A cart or wagon.^[5][3]
4. (Medieval Latin) A toll or payment in kind.^[5][10]
5. (Medieval Latin) Oppression, coercion, duress.^[5][3][10]
6. (Medieval Latin, in the plural) The Ember Days.^[5][8][10]

Word family

• angarialis
• angariō

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
9. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
10. ^ a b c d e 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