barra

Forms

barra f (genitive barrae); first declension^[1][2] A masculine barrus and the spellings barca and barria also occur.^[2][1]

Etymology

It is a Medieval Latin word, which the DMLBS takes as borrowed from Old French barre;^[2] the MLW compares the Old French word and Italian barra.^[1] The origin of the Romance word is unknown.^[3][4] Wiktionary mentions a derivation from Gaulish *barros (“the bushy end”), which it calls largely discredited, and alternatively one from Proto-Germanic *barō (“bar, barrier”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's earliest source is a charter of about 1100.^[3] In British sources it appears about 1160 for one of the gates of York, “the western bar”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The basic sense is a bar or rod, of wood or iron.^[2][1] From this it named a bar blocking a road, an archway or a waterway, a door bar and a window bar,^[2] a barrier or barricade,^[1][5] and the gate or bar of a town.^[2] Niermeyer also gives a toll-bar and the bar of a court of law,^[5] where accused people were brought ad barram.^[6]

In English records it is also the cross-bar in a barrel or bushel,^[2] a stripe in cloth and the bar in heraldry.^[2][6] In a charter from Luxembourg it means a legal hindrance, in a renunciation of all exceptions.^[1] The word continues in Italian, Catalan, Spanish and Occitan barra and in Old French barre.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – It appears in charters.^[3]
• c. 1160 – A Kirkstall charter places land by the western bar of York.^[2]
• 1196 – The Pipe Rolls record payment for hoops and bars for repairing barrels.^[2]
• 1221 – A Gloucester plea roll records a man struck with a bar.^[2]
• 1238 – A royal order has an archway closed with iron bars.^[2]
• 1245 – An inventory of St Paul's describes an amice with stripes of pearls.^[2]
• 1264 – A Luxembourg charter uses it for a legal hindrance.^[1]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Medieval Latin) A bar, rod or pole.^[2][1][6]
2. (Medieval Latin) A barrier, barricade; a bar closing a road, gate, door or window.^[5][1][2]
3. (Medieval Latin) A toll-bar.^[5]
4. (Medieval Latin, law) The bar of a court.^[5][6]
5. (Medieval Latin) The bar or gate of a town.^[2]
6. (Medieval Latin) A cross-bar in a barrel or measure.^[2]
7. (Medieval Latin) A stripe in cloth; in heraldry, a bar.^[2][6]
8. (Medieval Latin, figurative) A hindrance, legal exception.^[1]

Related words

• English bar
• English barrier

Usage notes

Niermeyer's second barra only refers to bara,^[5] and the MLW has a separate barra (also parra) for a kind of vessel, known from glosses.^[1] Du Cange also records it for a bier, a suburb and a kind of weapon.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s 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
3. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
5. ^ a b c d e f Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
6. ^ a b c d e f du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre