birrus

Forms

birrus m (genitive birrī); second declension^[1] Also spelled byrrus and byrrhus;^[2][3][4] Augustine has a neuter birrum.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

Wiktionary takes it as borrowed from Gaulish *birros, from Proto-Celtic *birros (“short”).^[1] Köbler calls the origin unknown, perhaps Celtic,^[5] and the TLL thought it a foreign word, comparing Greek words and the Irish and Welsh words for “short”.^[2] Lewis & Short, Georges and the DMLBS instead equate it with Ancient Greek πυρρός (purrhós, “flame-coloured, yellowish red”),^[4][3][6] and the TLL notes that it was confused with burrus (“red”).^[2] Isidore of Seville already said it took its name from Greek.^[2][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first dated use is in Diocletian's Edict on Prices, which sets a tailor's wage for cutting and finishing a birrus of first and second quality.^[2][5][4]

Semantic evolution

It was a short cloak with a hood, of silk or wool, worn against the rain.^[4][3] Sulpicius Severus describes a stiff one, and the scholia on Juvenal explain the Santonic cowl as a Gallic byrrus, made among the Santones.^[3][2] The account of Cyprian's martyrdom says he stripped off his byrrus, and Augustine repeats it.^[2]

In the Middle Ages it was a cloak^[8][6] and a monk's cowl,^[8] and in British sources also a rag, and a pleat or skirt of a garment.^[6] Italian berretto (“cap”) goes back to it.^[9]

Timeline

• 301 AD – Diocletian's Edict on Prices lists it.^[2][5]
• c. 363–c. 420 AD – Sulpicius Severus mentions a stiff cloak of this kind.^[3][5]
• 438 AD – The Theodosian Code uses it.^[4][5]
• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville derives it from Greek.^[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A short hooded cloak of wool or silk, worn against the rain.^[4][3][9]
2. (Medieval Latin) A monk's cowl.^[8]
3. (Medieval Latin) A rag.^[6]
4. (Medieval Latin) A pleat, fold or skirt of a garment.^[6]

Related words

• burrus

Usage notes

The TLL also lists an adjective birrus, a form of burrus “red”.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e 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
7. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
8. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier