armamentarium

Forms

armāmentārium n (genitive armāmentāriī or armāmentārī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin armāmenta (“implements, equipment”) + -ārium,^[2][1] a place noun; armāmenta is from arma (“arms, equipment”).^[3][4][5] Varro noted that armārium (“cupboard”) and this noun have the same origin, and Priscian defined it as the place where arms are kept.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it first in Cicero,^[5] who says that arms are handed to the Roman people ex aedibus sacrīs armāmentāriīsque pūblicīs, “from the temples and the public arsenals”.^[7][3]

Semantic evolution

It is a store for military equipment, an armoury or arsenal:^[2][7] Cicero mentions the arsenal that Philo built for the Athenians,^[7] and Livy and Pliny the Elder use it too.^[7][3] The Vulgate uses it in the books of Kings and Chronicles.^[7] In medieval Britain it was glossed with Old English wæpnahus, and one writer, walking about, saw first an armāmentārium and then a library.^[8]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero mentions public arsenals.^[7][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it.^[7][3]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it.^[7]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it in the books of Kings.^[7]
• Medieval Latin – Ælfric's glossary gives it as wæpnahus.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A storehouse for military equipment, an armoury, arsenal.^[2][7][9]

Related words

• arma
• armārium

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
4. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ 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
9. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson