byrsa

Forms

byrsa f (genitive byrsae); first declension^[1] Also spelled bursa; the glossaries have a neuter birsum, and Niermeyer byrsum.^[2][1][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek βύρσα (búrsa, “hide, skin”).^[2][1][4] Köbler compares βερρός (berrós, “thick, hairy”) and calls the further origin unclear, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- (“to scratch, cut, split, rub”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Servius, commenting on the Aeneid, notes that byrsa is the Greek word for a hide.^[2][1][4] Claudius Donatus adds that the name has that meaning in Greek and in Punic.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The glossaries explain it as a hide, an oxhide.^[5][2] Medieval poets used it in that sense, Aldhelm and Hrabanus Maurus among them, and a life of Saint Adalhard of Corbie tells that his body was wrapped in a deer's hide.^[6][4]

In Medieval Latin the sense moved from the hide to what was made of it: a leather bag or purse, then a fund for paying stipends, a stipend or scholarship, a week's living costs, and a money-fief.^[3][4] Peter of Blois uses it in his letters.^[4] For the purse the usual medieval spelling is bursa.^[3][7] It lies behind Italian borsa, French bourse and Spanish bolsa,^[2][8] and Old English, Old Saxon and Old High German borrowed it.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 400 AD – Servius glosses it as the Greek word for a hide.^[2][4]
• 639–709 AD – Aldhelm uses it of a hide.^[6][4]
• first half of the 9th century AD – Hrabanus Maurus uses it in a poem.^[6][4]
• second half of the 12th century – Peter of Blois uses it in his letters.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A hide, skin, especially an oxhide.^[2][1][3][5]
2. (Medieval Latin) A leather bag, a purse.^[3][4]
3. (Medieval Latin) A fund for paying stipends; a stipend or scholarship; a week's living costs; a money-fief.^[3]

Related words

• bursa

Usage notes

With a capital, Byrsa is the citadel of Carthage.^[9][10] Virgil tells how the settlers bought the ground, factī dē nōmine Byrsam, taurīnō quantum possent circumdare tergō, “called Byrsa from the deed, as much as they could enclose with a bull's hide”, and Livy and Justin tell the same story.^[2] Köbler suggests that the place name may be Phoenician.^[4] Servius says that Carthage was first called Byrsa, and Isidore of Seville repeats it.^[2] Sidonius Apollinaris has an adjective Byrsicus, Carthaginian.^[10][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e f Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Goetz, Georg (1888–1923), Corpus glossariorum Latinorum, Leipzig: Teubner; vols. VI–VII Thesaurus glossarum emendatarum, digital ed. CGLO, Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b c du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
7. ^ Latinitatis medii aevi lexicon Bohemorum / Slovník středověké latiny v českých zemích (1977–), Prague: Academia; electronic version, Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences
8. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press