Etymologically
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charta

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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
  • 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