Etymology and origin of the Latin word asinarius
- Confidence
- Established
- Formation
- Derivation
- First attested
- c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
- Ultimate origin
- Latin asinus
From the same root
Forms
asinārius (feminine asināria, neuter asinārium); first/second-declension adjective[1]
Etymology
It is from Latin asinus (“ass”) + -ārius.[2][3][1] De Vaan takes asinus to be a recent loanword, since it keeps the /s/ between vowels, and notes that most Indo-European words for the ass are loanwords.[4] The OLD has separate entries for the adjective and for the noun made from it.[5]
Earliest recorded meaning
De Vaan dates it from Plautus,[4] whose comedy is called Asinaria, the ass comedy.[5][3] Cato is the first to use the adjective of things: molae asinariae, millstones turned by an ass.[2][6]
Semantic evolution
As an adjective it means “of asses”: besides Cato's mills and yoke, Apuleius has a woman who tends asses, and speaks of an “ass's Pasiphae”.[2][3][7] The Via Asinaria was a road south-east of Rome.[5] As a noun it names the ass-driver, in Cato, Varro, Suetonius and Diocletian's price edict, and Tertullian reports it as an insult used against the Christians.[3] The Vulgate has mola asinaria in Matthew and Mark, of a millstone hung round the neck.[6][8]
In medieval sources the ass mill appears in a Basel charter of 728, and the noun names a keeper of asses;[9] a Norman exchequer roll of 1198 has asinarii, and an Old English glossary gives the feminine noun for a mill driven by an ass.[8]
Timeline
- c. 250–184 BC – Plautus names a comedy Asinaria.[5][10]
- 234–149 BC – Cato speaks of mills turned by asses and of ass-drivers.[2][6][10]
- 116–27 BC – Varro uses the noun for an ass-driver.[6][10]
- c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian reports it as an insult for Christians.[3][10]
- 390–406 AD – The Vulgate speaks of a millstone turned by an ass.[6][10]
- 728 – A Basel charter mentions an ass mill.[9]
- 1198 – A Norman exchequer roll mentions ass-drivers.[8]
Meanings
Adjective
- Of or for asses;[5][6] mola asinaria, a millstone turned by an ass.[5][6]
- via asinaria, a road south-east of Rome.[5]
Noun
- An ass-driver, donkey man.[5][6]
- Asināria (feminine), the title of a comedy by Plautus.[5][6]
- (Medieval Latin, feminine) A mill driven by an ass.[8]
Word family
- asināricius
References
- ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
- ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
- ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
- ^ a b c d 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
- ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
- ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry
“Asinarius.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/asinarius. Accessed 23 Oct. 2026.
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