Etymologically
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armiger

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈar.mɪ.ɡɛr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈar.mi.d͡ʒer][1]

Forms

armiger (feminine armigera, neuter armigerum); first/second-declension adjective (nominative masculine singular in -er)[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin arma (“weapons”) + -ger (“bearing”), with the second part from gerō (“to carry”).[2][1][3] De Vaan traces arma to Proto-Italic *armo- and Proto-Indo-European *h₂(e)r-mo- (“fitting”), from a root “to join”, and gerō to *ges-e/o- and *h₂ǵ-es- (“to carry”), a derivative of the root of agō.[4] The grammarian Priscian cites it as a noun compounded with a verb.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Plautus,[5] who uses it as a noun for an armour-bearer.[6]

Semantic evolution

As an adjective it means bearing arms, armed or warlike, as in Accius' “in a winged, not an armed body”, and in Propertius of the field sown with dragon's teeth that brought forth armed men.[2][6] The noun, its commonest use, is an armour-bearer or squire, as Butes was to Anchises in Virgil;[2][6] Cicero calls Catiline's follower Sergius his armiger, and the eagle is Jupiter's armour-bearer.[2][6] The feminine armigera is used of Diana's attendant in Ovid.[6] The Vulgate uses it for the armour-bearers of the Old Testament.[6]

In medieval Latin it is a warrior's assistant and, in the technical sense, an esquire, a service regarded as honourable.[7][1]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of an armour-bearer.[6][5]
  • 170–c. 90 BC – Accius as an adjective, “armed”.[2][5]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of Jupiter's eagle and of Butes, squire of Anchises.[2][6][5]
  • 390–406 AD – The Vulgate of the armour-bearers of the Old Testament.[6][5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Bearing arms, armed, warlike.[2][6][1]
  2. Of a field, producing armed men.[2]

Noun

  1. An armour-bearer, squire; a follower.[2][6][1]
  2. Iovis armiger, the eagle.[2][6]
  3. (Medieval Latin) An esquire.[7][1]

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  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 c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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