ballista

Forms

ballista f (genitive ballistae); first declension^[1] It is also spelled bālista,^[2] and the glossaries have ballistra.^[3]

Etymology

It is from Ancient Greek βάλλω (bállō, “to throw”), through a Greek derivative;^[2][3][4] the TLL thinks that derivative is not recorded,^[4] while Köbler and Etymonline name it as βαλλιστής (ballistḗs)^[5][6] and Wiktionary as βαλλίστρα (ballístra).^[1] Köbler traces the Greek verb to Proto-Indo-European *gʷel- (“to throw”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Plautus,^[5] in whom someone says that his fist is a ballista, his elbow a catapult and his shoulder a battering ram.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It is a military engine for hurling stones and other missiles, described in detail by Vitruvius.^[2] Lewis & Short describe it as a large engine like a bow, stretched with cords and thongs, at first distinct from the catapulta, which shot arrows, but later often confused with it.^[3] Lucilius mentions ballistas that threw hundred-pound stones, and Cicero says that ballistas throw harder the more tightly they are drawn back;^[3] Caesar, Livy and Tacitus also use it.^[3] Plautus and Lucilius also use it for the missile itself, and Plautus figuratively for an engine of misfortune aimed at someone.^[3] English ballista dates from the late 14th century.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, in jokes and figures of speech.^[3][5]
• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius, of engines hurling hundred-pound stones.^[3][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero, of the force of the ballista.^[3][5]
• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius describes its construction.^[2][5]
• late 14th century – Borrowed into English as ballista.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A ballista, a military engine for hurling stones and other missiles.^[2][3][1]
2. The missile thrown by it.^[3]
3. (figurative) An instrument of attack.^[3]

Word family

• ballistārius
• ballistrārius
• exballistō
• arcuballista
• carroballista
• manuballista

Related words

• catapulta
• English ballista
• English ballistic

Usage notes

Ballista was also the name of a mountain in Liguria in Livy, and, in the ancient lives of Virgil, of a schoolmaster notorious for robbery on whom the young Virgil wrote a couplet.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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 k l m Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com