antiquarius

Forms

antīquārius (feminine antīquāria, neuter antīquārium); first/second-declension adjective^[1] As a noun it is masculine, genitive antīquāriī.^[2][1]

Etymology

It is from Latin antīquus (“old, ancient”) + -ārius.^[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler finds the noun first in Tacitus,^[4] who in the Dialogue on Orators doubts that anyone is so devoted to antiquity (nec quemquam adeō antīquārium putō) as to praise certain old orators.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In Tacitus and Suetonius the noun means a devotee of the old, pre-Augustan language and literature, rather than a researcher of antiquity;^[6] Juvenal mocks a woman who is an antīquāria.^[5][6][3] Jerome uses the adjective in ars antīquāria, the art of reading and copying old manuscripts,^[5][6] and in the Theodosian Code, Ausonius, Augustine and later writers the noun names a copyist of such manuscripts.^[5][6][3]

In medieval Latin it simply meant a scribe or copyist of books;^[7][8] in Britain Aldhelm uses it of a scribe, an Old English glossary renders it writere, and Orderic Vitalis tells of scribes copying the books of both Testaments for his monastery's library.^[9]

Timeline

• 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses the noun of a lover of antiquity.^[5][4]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it in the same sense.^[5][6][4]
• c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome speaks of the ars antīquāria.^[5][6][4]
• 438 AD – The Theodosian Code uses it of copyists.^[5][4]
• 639–709 AD – Aldhelm uses it of a scribe.^[9][4]
• 1120–1141 – Orderic Vitalis uses it of scribes copying the Bible.^[9][4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Relating to antiquity;^[5][6][3] ars antīquāria, the art of reading and copying old manuscripts.^[5][6][3]

Noun

1. A student or lover of the past; especially an admirer of the archaic style in language and literature.^[2][6][3]
2. (Late Latin) A copyist of old manuscripts.^[5][6][3]
3. (Medieval Latin) A scribe.^[7][8][9]

Related words

• English antiquary

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
9. ^ a b c d 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