Etymologically
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carcer

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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

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.