asser

Forms

asser m (genitive asseris); third declension^[1]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain; the OLD marks it as doubtful.^[2] De Vaan treats it under assis (“plank”), whose variant spelling ⟨axis⟩ he takes as a hypercorrection; he reports Ernout and Meillet's view that ⟨*assis⟩, genitive ⟨*asseris⟩, gave the plural ⟨asserēs⟩, from which the singular was back-formed.^[3] He rejects Pokorny's link with ⟨*ost-⟩ “bone”, since Latin has ⟨o-⟩ in os² (“bone”).^[3][4] The TLL also compares assis and axis, and Wiktionary derives it from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱs- (“axis”).^[5][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Naevius has it first.^[2][3][4] In Plautus' Aulularia someone says there is no firewood, and is asked whether there are rafters.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

It is a wooden beam, pole or post, and especially a horizontal timber holding up a roof, a joist or rafter.^[2][6] Caesar has beams twelve feet long, tipped with iron points, driven into the ground.^[6] Vitruvius, Livy and Tacitus also use it.^[6] It is the pole of a litter, as in Martial.^[2][1] Church Latin has “plank, board, lath”.^[7] In Medieval Latin it is also a shaft or arrow.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 235–200 BC – Naevius has the word.^[2][3][4]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, of rafters.^[2][6][4]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar, of iron-tipped beams.^[6][4]
• 40–102/103 AD – Martial, of the pole of a litter.^[2][4]
• Medieval Latin – A shaft, an arrow.^[1]

Meanings

Noun

1. A wooden beam, pole, post, stake.^[2][6][1]
2. A joist, rafter.^[2]
3. The pole of a litter.^[2][1]
4. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A plank, board, lath.^[7]
5. (Medieval Latin) A shaft; an arrow.^[1]

Word family

• inasserō

Related words

• assis
• axis
• assula
• tignum

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson