arcarius

Forms

arcārius (feminine arcāria, neuter arcārium); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin arca (“chest, money-box”) + -ārius.^[2][3][4] The noun is the adjective used substantively.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The adjective first appears in Gaius' Institutes, on debts called arcaria nomina, which in his words create no obligation but are evidence of one already made.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

As a noun it meant a treasurer or cashier;^[2][6] inscriptions also spell it ark-.^[2] The Vulgate uses it of treasurers in Esther and of the treasurer of a city in Romans, and it appears in the Digest;^[3] Lampridius uses it of a controller of public revenues.^[3]

In medieval Latin it remained the word for a treasurer,^[4][7] of a royal palace in a letter of Alcuin of 796,^[8] and of the Roman curia and other churches.^[9] The MLW also records it for a carpenter who makes chests, in Albertus Magnus.^[9]

Timeline

• 140–180 AD – Gaius speaks of arcaria nomina.^[5][10]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses the noun for treasurers.^[3][10]
• 533 AD – The Digest has the noun.^[3][10]
• 796 – Alcuin greets the treasurer of the royal palace.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or concerned with ready money, cash;^[2][3][5] arcaria nomina, debts recorded as cash payments.^[2][3][5]

Noun

1. A treasurer, cashier.^[2][3][6]
2. (Late Latin) A controller of public revenues.^[3]
3. (Medieval Latin) The treasurer of a palace, church or community.^[4][8][9]
4. (Medieval Latin) A chest-maker, carpenter.^[9]

Usage notes

Medieval arcarius “archer” has a separate source: Niermeyer derives it from arcus,^[4] and the MLW refers it to arcuarius.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
5. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b c d e Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
10. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de