apertura

Forms

apertūra f (genitive apertūrae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin aperiō (“to open”) + -ūra, on the stem of the past participle ⟨apertus⟩.^[2][1][3] The verb goes back to Proto-Italic *ap-wer-je- (“to open”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₂u̯er-i(e/o)- (“to cover”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Vitruvius (c. 84–c. 25 BC) is the first to use it, of doors that have their openings towards the outside: aperturas habent in exteriores partes.^[2][5][3]

Semantic evolution

L&S notes that it is found only after Augustus.^[6] It meant both the act of opening, in law especially the opening of a will (apertura tabularum in Ulpian),^[2][6] and a concrete opening, aperture or hole, as in Vitruvius and the Vulgate.^[2][6]

It lives on in Italian apertura, French ouverture and Spanish abertura.^[5] English borrowed it in the early 15th century as aperture, “an opening, hole”.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of the openings of doors.^[2][3]
• before 223 AD – Ulpian speaks of the opening of a will.^[2][3]
• c. 383–419/420 AD – The Vulgate uses it for openings in the concrete sense.^[6][3]
• early 15th century – English borrows it as aperture.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of opening;^[2][6] (law) the opening of a will.^[2][6]
2. An opening, aperture, hole.^[2][6]

Related words

• English aperture

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com