arista

Forms

arista f (genitive aristae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

The origin is unknown.^[2][3][1] Köbler mentions a possible Etruscan origin, but Wiktionary thinks this unlikely, since the early Latins were farmers and the form gives no reason for it; it compares genista (“broom”) for the formation.^[3][1] Wiktionary also reports a comparison with Baltic names of the horsetail and other words, which Puhvel found too motley, and thinks a link with harundō (“reed”) somewhat likely.^[1] Lewis & Short suggested a connection with ācer (“sharp”) or with arō (“to plough”).^[4] Varro, followed by Festus, Servius and Isidore, explained it as the part that dries first, from ārēscō (“to dry up”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Varro, who uses it of the awn on an ear of barley.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

It is first the awn or beard of barley and other grain, and then the whole ear: Catullus imagines a crop of kisses thicker than dry ears of corn.^[2] In poetry, usually in the plural, it is a grain crop or harvest, also used to count years.^[2] Ovid uses it of the spikes of spikenard, and Persius of the hairs that stand on end in fear.^[2] Wiktionary adds a fishbone and, in Neo-Latin entomology, a bristle such as that on a fly's antenna.^[1]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro of the awn of barley.^[2][3]
• 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus of ears of corn.^[2][3]
• 34–62 AD – Persius of hairs bristling with fear.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The awn or beard of barley, oats or other grain.^[2][4][1]
2. An ear of grain; a spike of spikenard; a stalk.^[2][1]
3. (poetic) A grain crop, harvest; summer.^[2][1]
4. In the plural, hairs standing on end, gooseflesh.^[2]
5. A fishbone.^[1]
6. (New Latin) A bristle, as on an insect's antenna.^[1]

Word family

• aristātus
• aristifer
• aristosus
• aristiger

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften