Etymologically
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calceo

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈkaɫ.ke.oː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈkal̠ʲ.t͡ʃe.o][1]

Forms

calceō (present infinitive calceāre, perfect active calceāvī, supine calceātum); first conjugation[1] Also spelled calciō.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin calceus (“shoe”) + -ō, and the OLD also compares calx “heel”.[2][4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citations include Plautus, in a jocular use of other parts of the body.[2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant to fit or supply with shoes, put shoes on, shoe, as in Cicero and Pliny; to shoe animals, as of mules in Suetonius; and jokingly of other parts of the body, as in Plautus.[2][3]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant to put shoes on.[6] It survives as Italian calzare, French chausser, Spanish calzar, Portuguese and Catalan calçar and Romanian încălța.[1]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it jokingly.[2][5]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny uses it of shoes.[2][5]
  • c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it of shoeing mules.[2][5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To put shoes on, supply with shoes.[2]
  2. To shoe (animals).[2]

Word family

  • calceāmen
  • calceāmentum
  • calceātor
  • calceātus
  • discalciātus
  • disculciō
  • discalceō
  • excalceō

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson