Etymologically
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clipeus

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈklɪ.pe.ʊs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈkliː.pe.us][1]

Forms

clipeus m (genitive clipeī); second declension[1]

Etymology

Its origin is unknown.[2][1] It is also spelt clupeus, and de Vaan notes that such variation between /i/ and /u/ is common after /l/ before labials, as in libet beside lubet.[2] Köbler and the TLL think it may be a loanword.[3][4] Isidore derived it from an old verb clepere (“to hide”), because it hides the body.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus.[2][3] A tragic fragment speaks of protecting the Greek fleet with a shield.[6] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[3]

Semantic evolution

It was a round shield, usually of bronze, and an embossed or ornamented shield seen as a work of art, as Phidias' shield of Minerva in Cicero.[6][7] By its shape Ennius used it of the vault of heaven, and Ovid of the disc of the sun.[6] The neuter clipeum is also found.[6][8]

In medieval Germany it was the military service owed by a vassal, the Heerschild.[9] It was borrowed into English as clipeus.[1]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.[2][3]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of Phidias' shield.[6][3]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid calls the sun's disc the god's shield.[6][3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A round shield.[6]
  2. An ornamental shield.[6]
  3. (poetic) The vault of heaven; the disc of the sun.[6]
  4. (Medieval Latin) Military service owed to a lord.[9]

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes scūtum, a large shield covering the whole body, from clipeus and parma, smaller round shields.[10]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  8. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  10. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper