Etymologically
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ballista

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [balˈlɪs.ta][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [balˈlis.ta][1]

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

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