charta

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈkʰar.ta], [ˈkʰar.taː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈkar.ta], [ˈkar.ta]^[1]

Forms

charta f (genitive chartae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek χάρτης (khártēs, “sheet of papyrus”), with a change to the feminine.^[1][2][3] Etymonline says the Greek word is probably from Egyptian.^[4] Lucilius has a masculine chartus.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lucilius uses the masculine chartus.^[5] The Rhetorica ad Herennium compares the places of memory to wax or paper.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It meant paper made from papyrus, or a sheet of it, and writing material, as Cicero's charta dentata “polished paper”.^[2][6] It meant written pages and rolls, literary works, as Cicero's Etruscan books, and a thin sheet of metal, as Nero's lead plate in Suetonius.^[2]

In medieval Latin it meant any written document, whether papyrus or parchment: a letter, a mandate, a charter.^[7] It also came to mean a map.^[1] English card comes from it through Old French in the early 15th century, and chart through French in the 1570s.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius has the masculine chartus.^[5][8]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of paper and of books.^[2][8]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it of a sheet of lead.^[2][8]
• early 15th century – English card is recorded.^[4]
• 1570s – English chart is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. Papyrus paper, a sheet of it.^[2][1]
2. Writing material, paper.^[2]
3. A written work, a book; a letter, poem.^[2][1]
4. A thin sheet of metal.^[2]
5. (Medieval Latin) A written document, charter.^[7][1]
6. (Medieval Latin) A map.^[1]

Word family

• chartāceus
• chartārius
• charteus
• chartula
• chartus
• chartārium

Related words

• English card
• English chart
• English charter

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de