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arrha

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word arrha

Confidence
Established
Formation
Clipping
First attested
23–79 Pliny the Elder More words from the 1st century
Ultimate origin
Latin arrabō

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈar.rʰa][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈar.ra][1]

Forms

arrha f (genitive arrhae); first declension[1] Also spelled arra without aspiration; the fuller form is arrabō (also arrhabō).[2][3]

Etymology

It is a shortened form from Latin arrabō (“earnest money, pledge”).[2][4][1] Arrabō is from Ancient Greek ἀρραβών (arrhabṓn),[2][5] which Wiktionary derives from Biblical Hebrew עֵרָבוֹן (ʿērāḇōn, “guarantee, deposit”);[1] the OLD compares the Hebrew word.[2] Isidore of Seville explained arra as named after the thing for which it is handed over.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the surviving texts the short form is first found in Pliny the Elder,[4] who ironically calls the fees paid to doctors mortis arra, a down payment on death.[3]

Semantic evolution

The fuller arrabō is the earlier form, used by Plautus and Terence.[3] Gellius reports that in his time arrabō was beginning to be thought a low word and arra an even lower one, although the old writers often said arra and Laberius used it several times.[4] After Pliny it is common in the jurists and the Church writers.[4] Legally it is something given to confirm a contract;[4] Gaius calls what is given as arra the proof that a sale has been concluded,[4] and Isidore distinguishes it from a pignus, a pledge that is returned once the contract is fulfilled.[3] It was also used figuratively of a pledge or token.[3]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it is a wedding gift as well as earnest money.[6] Medieval texts use it of the gift that confirms a betrothal, such as a wedding ring, of the husband's gift to his wife, of the dowry, of a bishop's ring, and generally of a symbol, such as royal insignia.[7]

Timeline

  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder has the earliest surviving instances of the short form.[4][8]
  • 140–180 AD – Gaius defines what is given as arra as proof of a concluded sale.[4][8]
  • c. 165 AD – Gellius discusses arra and arrabō as low words.[4][3][8]
  • c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville distinguishes it from pignus.[3][8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Earnest money, a deposit given to confirm a contract.[2][3][4]
  2. (figurative) A pledge, token.[3][1]
  3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A wedding gift.[6]
  4. (Medieval Latin) A betrothal gift, wedding ring; a gift from husband to wife; a dowry.[7]
  5. (Medieval Latin) A bishop's ring.[7]
  6. (Medieval Latin) A symbol; insignia.[7]

Usage notes

Plautus jokingly shortened arrabō to rabō.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b c d Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Arrha.” Etymologically, 8 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/la/arrha. Accessed 8 Nov. 2026.

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