cellarius

Forms

cellārius m (genitive cellāriī or cellārī); second declension^[1] As an adjective: cellārius, cellāria, cellārium.^[2] Medieval spellings include celarius and cellareus.^[3]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin cella (“storeroom”) + -ārius;^[2][1][4] the noun is the adjective used as a substantive.^[2] De Vaan considers that cella may be related to cēlō (“to conceal”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Both uses go back to Plautus.^[4][5] In the Miles gloriosus the adjective appears in sagina cellaria, the fattening fare of the storeroom,^[5][6] and in the Captivi the noun means the keeper of the stores.^[6]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin the noun named the keeper of a larder or cellar, a steward or butler.^[2][6] Columella has an accusative plural cellārēs of the adjective.^[6] Greek borrowed it as κελλάριος (kellários), which a Greek–Latin glossary renders by penuarius.^[7]

In medieval Latin it was above all the cellarer of a monastery,^[8][3][9] but also a lay steward, a fiscal officer in charge of the royal store (cellarium fisci),^[8][3] and in Britain a monk in charge of a dependent cell.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses both the adjective and the noun.^[5][6][10]
• 1st century AD – Columella uses the adjective.^[6][10]
• 716 – Köbler dates its first record in medieval diplomas to this year.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or connected with a storeroom.^[2][6]

Noun

1. The keeper of a larder or cellar, a steward, butler.^[2][6][1]
2. (Medieval Latin) The cellarer of a monastery.^[8][3][9]
3. (Medieval Latin) A fiscal officer in charge of the royal store.^[8]
4. (Medieval Latin) A monk in charge of a dependent cell.^[9]

Related words

• cella

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
8. ^ a b c d Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ a b c d 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
10. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de