carcer

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈkar.kɛr]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈkar.t͡ʃer]^[1]

Forms

carcer m (genitive carceris); third declension^[1]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.^[2][3] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *karkr(o)-, perhaps a reduplicated Proto-Indo-European *kr̥-kr̥- (“circular”), and connects it with words for a circle or round object such as curvus and Ancient Greek κίρκος (kírkos, “ring”); he compares Ancient Greek καρκίνος (karkínos, “crab”).^[4] Wiktionary takes it as a doublet of cancer.^[1] Lewis and Short mention Sicilian Ancient Greek κάρκαρον (kárkaron, “prison”).^[5][6] Isidore derives it from coerceō “to confine”.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,^[4] who has a slave fearing that the night police may throw him into jail.^[2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It was a jail or prison, and by transfer the cave in which Aeolus kept the winds, and, as an insult, a jailbird.^[2][8] In the plural, or in the singular in poetry, it was the starting gates of a racecourse, and so the start of a course, as in ad carcerēs ā calce revocārī “to be called back from the finish to the start”.^[2][8]

Döderlein contrasts custōdia, the prison in general, with carcer, the part for citizens, and ergastulum, the slaves' workhouse.^[9] In medieval Latin it was also a hermit's cell, and the prison of the soul or Hell.^[10][11] Medieval Latin incarcerāre “to imprison” gave English incarcerate.^[12] The Appendix Probi corrects carcar to carcer.^[13] It survives in Italian carcere and Spanish cárcel.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus has a slave fearing jail.^[2][3]
• 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it of the starting gates.^[2][3]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of the prison of the winds.^[2][3]
• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore derives it from coercēre.^[7][3]
• 1550s – English incarcerate is recorded.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A prison, jail.^[2]
2. The cave of the winds; a jailbird.^[2][8]
3. (usually plural) The starting gates of a racecourse; the start.^[2]
4. (Medieval Latin) A hermit's cell.^[10]

Word family

• carceralis
• carcerārius
• carcereus
• incarcerō

Related words

• cancer
• English incarcerate

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
8. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
9. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
10. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
11. ^ 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
12. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
13. ^ Appendix Probi, a late antique list of correct and censured Latin word forms ("calida non calda"); ed. H. Keil, Grammatici Latini IV, Leipzig 1864, 197–199.