cisterna

Forms

cisterna f (genitive cisternae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin cista (“box, chest”) + -erna, with the ending of caverna (“cave”).^[2][3][1] The base is a borrowing of Ancient Greek κίστη (kístē, “box”).^[1][4] The TLL thinks that Umbrian cisterno “cistern” was borrowed from Latin.^[3] Festus, as reported in the TLL, connected the name with cis (“on this side of”) and terra (“earth”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Varro's On Agriculture,^[5][6] who advises that where there is no running water, cisterns should be made under cover.^[3][7]

Semantic evolution

It was an underground or sunken tank for storing water, mostly rainwater: Tacitus describes pools and cisterns for keeping rain (piscinae cisternaeque servandis imbribus),^[3][8] and Ulpian notes that a cistern has no living water of its own but is filled by rain.^[3] The Digest also mentions a cistern for keeping wine.^[6] In Ecclesiastical Latin it can be a pit or ditch.^[9] British medieval sources use it for a cistern or water tank, a vat or trough, and a cave.^[10]

English cistern (mid-13th century) came from it through Old French.^[4]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro recommends cisterns for farms without running water.^[3][5]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus mentions cisterns kept for rainwater.^[3][5]
• before 223 AD – Ulpian notes that a cistern is filled by rain.^[3][5]
• mid-13th century – English borrows it, through Old French, as cistern.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. An underground or sunken tank for storing water, a cistern, reservoir.^[2][6]
2. A tank for keeping wine.^[6]
3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A pit, ditch.^[9]
4. (Medieval Latin) A vat or trough; a cave.^[10]

Word family

• cisternīnus

Related words

• English cistern

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b 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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
9. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
10. ^ 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