caestus

Forms

caestus m (genitive caestūs); fourth declension^[1] It is also spelled cestus, as in Varro, and Plautus has a form cestum; the ablative plural is cestīs in Varro and caestīs in Hyginus.^[2]

Etymology

The OLD and Wiktionary derive it from caedō “to strike, cut”; the TLL calls its origin uncertain, perhaps from that verb.^[2][1][3] De Vaan traces caedō to Proto-Italic *kaid-e/o- and Proto-Indo-European *keh₂id- (“to cut, hew”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's earliest source is a passage of Plautus' Bacchides that he treats as not genuine,^[5] where the OLD reads the form cestum.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is a strip of leather, especially one weighted with lead or iron and bound round the hands and arms of boxers, a boxing glove, and by extension boxing itself.^[2][6] Cicero and Virgil use it.^[6] The grammarian Probus distinguishes it from cestus, the girdle of Venus, in spelling and declension.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – A passage of Plautus has the form cestum.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses the word.^[6][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it.^[6][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A leather strap weighted with lead or iron, worn by boxers; a boxing glove, cestus.^[2][6][1]
2. Boxing.^[2]

Related words

• caedō

Usage notes

It is a separate word from cestus “girdle”, especially the love-inspiring girdle of Venus, which comes from Greek kestos “stitched, embroidered” and passed into English in the 1570s.^[7][3]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com