cista

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈkɪs.ta]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈt͡ʃis.ta]^[1]

Forms

cista f (genitive cistae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek κίστη (kístē, “box, basket”).^[2][1][3][4] Köbler compares Proto-Indo-European *kistā (“wicker basket”), and the TLL reports Stokes' comparison of Old Irish cess (“basket”).^[5][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is from the Rhetorica ad Herennium, of a ballot box.^[2] Köbler dates it 86/82 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant a box or chest, usually of wickerwork, for money, clothes, books or fruit, as in Cicero, Horace and Pliny the Elder.^[2][6][7] In Catullus and Tibullus it held the sacred objects of mysteries, and in the Rhetorica ad Herennium it was a ballot box.^[2][7]

British Medieval Latin used it for a chest, a bookcase and a coffin.^[8] It survives in Italian and Spanish cesta, and it was borrowed early into Germanic as *kista, whence Old English cest and English chest.^[1][4] English cist is an archaeological term from 1804.^[4]

Timeline

• 86/82 BC – The Rhetorica ad Herennium uses it of a ballot box.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a chest.^[6][5]
• 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus uses it of a box for sacred objects.^[2][5]
• 1804 – English cist is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A box, chest, basket.^[2]
2. A box for sacred objects.^[2]
3. A ballot box.^[2]
4. (Medieval Latin) A coffin; a bookcase.^[8]

Word family

• cistārius
• cistella
• cistifer
• cistula

Related words

• English chest
• English cist

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b 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 d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ a b 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