Etymologically
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bacchinon

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Forms

bacchinon n (genitive bacchinī); second declension[1] Wiktionary also gives a masculine ⟨bacchinus⟩.[1]

Etymology

It is a spoken form, from Vulgar Latin *baccinum.[1][2] Wiktionary derives this either from bacca (“vessel”), probably of Gaulish origin, or directly from Gaulish *bakkinon (“cup, wooden bowl”).[1] Köbler refers it to bacinum.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its only ancient witness is Gregory of Tours' History of the Franks: a shield is sent to the king with two wooden bowls that people commonly call ⟨bacchinon⟩.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Gregory presents it as a word of everyday speech.[2] The form ⟨baccinum⟩, from which it is explained, lived on in the medieval word bacinum.[2][3]

Timeline

  • 538/539–594 AD – Gregory of Tours records it as the common name of wooden bowls.[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (Late Latin) A basin or wooden bowl.[1][2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de