cuparius

Forms

cūpārius m (genitive cūpāriī or cūpārī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin cūpa + -ārius, from the word for a cask or vat.^[1][2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is known first from inscriptions: the TLL lists examples from Catania, Alba Helviorum in Gaul and Trier, where it stands beside a saccarius;^[2] the OLD defines it as a maker of casks, a cooper.^[1][3]

Semantic evolution

Medieval Latin took it up again for the cooper's trade.^[4][5][6] Strasbourg charters of the 12th century (after 1129) regulate the coopers of wine vessels and their master,^[5] a Daniel Cuppario is recorded in England in 1208, and English accounts of the 13th century pay coopers for binding and mending barrels.^[6] Spellings include cupparius, cuvarius, cuperarius and cowparius.^[4][6][7]

Köbler lists Old Frisian kūper and German Küfer among its later reflexes.^[7] Etymonline instead traces English cooper to a Low German source akin to Middle Dutch cuper.^[8]

Timeline

• Roman inscriptions – Coopers are recorded at Catania, in Gaul and at Trier.^[2][3]
• after 1129 – Strasbourg charters regulate the coopers.^[5]
• 1208 – A Daniel Cuppario is recorded in England.^[6]
• 1476 – Accounts of the church of St Peter at Lille pay a cooper for casks to hold mortar.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A cooper, a maker of casks.^{[1][10][3][4][5][6]}

References

1. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
5. ^ a b c d Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b c d e 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
7. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
10. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press