circumcirca

Forms

circumcircā (not comparable)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin circum (“round about”) + circā (“around, about”),^[2][1][3] a strengthened form of either word.^[4] The TLL takes it rather as an accusative singular joined to the accusative plural of the same word, formed like loca and ioca, though later grammarians thought it two prepositions grown together.^[5] According to de Vaan, circum is the old accusative singular of circus (“ring, circle”), circā a more recent formation; circus itself is probably a loan from Ancient Greek κρίκος (kríkos, “ring”), of uncertain origin.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in Plautus' Aulularia: “occepit … scalpurrire ungulis circumcirca” (“it began to scratch with its claws all round”).^[5][4][3]

Semantic evolution

Lewis and Short call it very rare.^[4] Besides Plautus it is found in a letter of Servius Sulpicius in Cicero's collection, where the writer looks out over the regions all around, in the Bellum Hispaniense and in Apuleius,^[4][5] who uses it of a mantle passing round the body.^[2] Grammarians report it in Cato,^[5][4] and their testimony shows that the last syllable was long, at the latest from the 4th century.^[5] The Vulgate has it in Ezekiel.^[4]

Medieval Latin kept the adverb, “round about, everywhere”,^[7][8] and also used it as a preposition.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it in the Aulularia.^[5][4][3]
• 234–149 BC – Cato used it, according to the grammarians.^[5][4][3]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it of a garment going round the body.^[2][3]
• AD 390–406 – The Vulgate has it in Ezekiel.^[4][3]

Meanings

Adverb

1. All around, round about, on all sides.^[2][4][7]
2. Round about the body.^[2]

Preposition

1. (Medieval Latin) Around.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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 c d e f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b c Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften