Etymologically
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argentarius

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ar.ɡɛnˈtaː.ri.ʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ar.d͡ʒenˈtaː.ri.us][1]

Forms

argentārius m (genitive argentāriī or argentārī); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin argentum (“silver, money”) + -ārius; the noun “banker” is the adjective used as a noun.[2][1][3] De Vaan traces argentum back to Proto-Italic *argento- (“silver”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₂rǵ-nt-o- (“silver”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL and Köbler date it from Plautus,[5][3] who says that courtesans are all money-baits.[2]

Semantic evolution

As an adjective it is of silver or concerned with silver, as Pliny the Elder's silver mines and plumbum argentārium, an alloy of lead and tin.[2] More often it means concerned with money, financial: Plautus has money help, Terence money worry, and Cato a farm's money accounts; it is also concerned with banking, as Vitruvius' and Livy's bankers' shops.[2] As a noun it is a banker, money changer or financial agent.[2][6][1] In Medieval Latin it is a silversmith, and a receiver or treasurer.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of money matters.[2][5][3]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence of money worries.[2]
  • c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius of bankers' shops.[2]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of silver mines.[2]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of silver, concerned with silver;[2][6][1] plumbum argentārium, an alloy of lead and tin.[2]
  2. Concerned with money, financial, pecuniary; concerned with banking.[2][1]

Noun

  1. A banker, money changer, financial agent.[2][6][1]
  2. (Medieval Latin) A silversmith; a receiver, treasurer.[7]

Word family

  • argentāria
  • argentarium

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill