Etymologically
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cibaria

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [kɪˈbaː.ri.a], [kɪˈbaː.ri.aː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [t͡ʃiˈbaː.ri.a], [t͡ʃiˈbaː.ri.a][1]

Forms

cibāria n pl (genitive cibāriōrum); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is the neuter plural of the adjective cibārius (“of food”), used as a noun;[2][3][1] the adjective is from Latin cibus (“food”) + -ārius.[1][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first author is Plautus, who uses it of money given for food: dedistī fīliō cibāria, “you gave your son his food money”.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Cato uses it of the rations of slaves, which should be smaller when they are ill, and of the yearly fodder of oxen.[2][3] It was the usual word for soldiers' rations: Caesar has the Helvetii take three months' ground rations from home, and Nepos and Livy speak of cooked rations.[2][3][6] Cicero uses it of the grain allowance of provincial magistrates and their staff and of the monthly rations of the Roman people.[2][3] Horace, Columella and Pliny the Elder use it of food and provisions in general,[2] and Petronius has the insult corvōrum cibāria, food for crows.[2][6]

The jurists distinguish it from alimenta, which covers everything needed to sustain life,[3] and the jurist Paulus speaks of a yearly allowance in money for food and clothing.[2] Ecclesiastical Latin kept the sense of food and sustenance;[7] in Medieval Latin the feminine singular cibāria also meant grain.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of money given for food.[2][5]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of rations for slaves and fodder for oxen.[2][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the grain allowance of provincial magistrates.[2][3][5]
  • c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it of soldiers' rations.[2][5]
  • before 66 AD – Petronius has the insult corvōrum cibāria.[2][5]
  • 822–823 – Ardo uses it.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A ration or allowance of food, for slaves, soldiers or officials.[2][3]
  2. Fodder for animals.[2][3]
  3. Food, provisions, victuals in general.[2][3][7]
  4. Money given for buying food; a food allowance.[2]
  5. (Medieval Latin, feminine) Grain, corn.[8]

Usage notes

The grammarians Charisius, Diomedes and Probus count it among the words used only in the plural; testators, as the jurist Pomponius shows, used the singular cibārium.[4]

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 k l m n o p q Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill