Etymologically
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calcar

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈkaɫ.kar][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈkal.kar][1]

Forms

calcar n (genitive calcāris); third declension[1] Köbler also records the form carcar.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin calx (“heel”), as the TLL and the OLD connect it, and Priscian derives it from that noun.[3][4][1] De Vaan calls the origin of calx unclear: a link with Lithuanian kulkšnìs (“ankle”) is doubtful at best, and some think it non-Indo-European, perhaps Etruscan.[5] Isidore explains that spurs are so called because they are tied to a man's heel to urge on horses.[3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Plautus.[2] In the OLD's earliest quotation Plautus threatens to drive someone up a slope with a four-footed spur.[4]

Semantic evolution

It is a spur worn on the heel, and Lewis & Short note that it is frequent in figurative use.[6][4] Phrases are ⟨calcar admovēre⟩, to apply the spur, as of a wind in Varro, and ⟨addere calcāria sponte currentī⟩, to spur a willing horse.[4] Columella uses it of the spur of a cock.[4] Niermeyer records the ram of a warship as a medieval sense.[7] Church Latin glosses it spur.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a four-footed spur.[4][2]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro of a wind applying the spur.[4][2]
  • 1st century AD – Columella of a cock's spurs.[4][2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A spur; figuratively, a stimulus, incentive.[4][6][1][8]
  2. The spur of a cock.[4]
  3. (Medieval Latin) The ram of a warship.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson