cantherius

Forms

canthērius m (genitive canthēriī or canthērī); second declension^[1] It is also spelled cantērius, and manuscripts use both spellings indiscriminately.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is probably borrowed from Ancient Greek κανθήλιος (kanthḗlios, “pack-ass”),^[1][3][4] from κανθήλια (kanthḗlia, “pack-saddle”);^[1] the OLD and Lewis & Short give the Greek word only as a comparison or a possibility,^[2][5] and Köbler calls the origin unclear.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus on,^[3][6] meaning a poor horse or gelding: in the Aulularia mules, which now cost more than horses, would become cheaper than Gallic cantēriī.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The basic sense is a gelding, usually a horse of poor quality, a nag;^[2][5] Döderlein sets it beside equus, caballus and mannus as the word for a castrated horse.^[7] It appears in proverbs: Cicero writes that someone who has eaten up his horse can ride to Rome on his mule,^[2] and Livy has minime, sis, cantherium in fossam, “not the nag into the ditch, please”.^[5] Plautus also uses it of a man made impotent by age, and Tertullian of an ass or mule.^[5]

By likeness it became a technical word: Vitruvius uses it for the principal rafters of a roof, Columella for a vine prop made of a horizontal rod on two supports, and Vegetius for a frame to hold up sick horses.^[2][5] Medieval Latin kept the sense “gelding”, glossed as Old English hengst,^[8][4] and added a frame for stretching hides and a kind of cargo ship.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it for an inferior horse and for an old man.^[2][5][6]
• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it for a gelding.^[5][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero quotes a proverb about eating up one's horse.^[2][6]
• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it for the rafters of a roof.^[2][6]
• 1st century AD – Columella uses it for a kind of vine prop.^[2][6]
• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it for an ass or mule.^[5][6]
• c. 400 AD – Vegetius uses it for a frame for sick horses.^[5][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A gelding; a horse of poor quality, a nag.^[2][5]
2. (figurative) A man impotent through age.^[5]
3. (Late Latin) An ass or mule.^[5]
4. (architecture) A principal rafter.^[2][5]
5. (viticulture) A vine prop made of a horizontal rod on two supports, a trellis.^[2][5]
6. A frame for suspending sick horses.^[5]
7. (Medieval Latin) A frame for stretching hides; a kind of cargo ship.^[8]

Word family

• canthēriātus
• canthērīnus
• canthēriolus

Usage notes

Döderlein notes that Seneca reports Cato the Censor riding a canterius with saddlebags.^[7]

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 j k l m 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. ^ a b 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
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
8. ^ a b c Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften