Etymologically
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armamentarium

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ar.maː.mɛnˈtaː.ri.ũː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ar.ma.menˈtaː.ri.um][1]

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]

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