archivum

Forms

archīvum n (genitive archīvī); second declension^[1] The older spelling is archīum, under which the OLD and Lewis & Short enter the word.^[2][3] The TLL notes that the ⟨i⟩ was nearly always kept long.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ἀρχεῖον (arkheîon, “town hall, public office”).^[1][2][4][5] The older Latin form was ⟨archīum⟩; ⟨archīvum⟩ appears from Tertullian on.^[4][6]

Isidore of Seville derived it, with arcānum, from arca (“chest”), because a chest keeps things from view; the TLL calls this a false etymology.^[7][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis & Short and Köbler cite it first from Pomponius Mela, but Georges notes that the passage may be read differently.^[3][5][6] The jurists of the early 3rd century use it for the public office where documents were deposited.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

Fronto has the older form in the plural, beside ⟨thēcae⟩ and ⟨opisthodomī⟩ (Conte calls the reading a conjecture),^[4][8] and the jurists Ulpian and Paul use it for the office where wills and other documents were kept.^[4][6] Tertullian writes of the archīva of the most ancient peoples, the Egyptians, Chaldaeans and Phoenicians,^[4][3] and Christian writers speak of the archives of the Jews and of a church.^[4]

In Medieval Latin it was also a treasury,^[9][5] a sacristy,^[10] and a library or bookcase.^[11][5] Italian archivio, Portuguese arquivo, Catalan arxiu and French archives continue it.^[1]

Timeline

• 43/44 AD – Pomponius Mela, if the manuscript reading is kept.^[3][5][6]
• 100–170 AD – Fronto has the older form ⟨archīum⟩.^[4][5]
• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian writes of the archīva of ancient peoples.^[4][3][5]
• before 223 AD – Ulpian uses it of an office where documents are deposited.^[4][2][5]
• 538/539–594 AD – Gregory of Tours writes it archevum.^[4][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A public record office; archives.^[2][3][4][1]
2. (Late Latin) The records or record room of a people or of a church.^[4][12]
3. (Medieval Latin) A treasury.^[9][5]
4. (Medieval Latin) A sacristy.^[10]
5. (Medieval Latin) A library or bookcase.^[11]

Related words

• English archive

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
8. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b 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
10. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
11. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
12. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson