cursarius

Forms

cursārius m (genitive cursāriī or cursārī); second declension^[1] As an adjective: cursārius (feminine cursāria, neuter cursārium); first/second declension.^[1] Also spelled corsārius, cursērius and corsērius.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin cursus + -ārius, formed in Medieval Latin;^[1][4] the MLW compares cursōrius (“of running”).^[4] cursus (“a running, course”) is the noun of currō (“to run”).^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The MLW's earliest record is a library catalogue of 1032/55, which lists an older cursarius among the church books, here a book of the divine office.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word took three separate meanings, all from the idea of running or of a course.^[3][4] As the name of a book it meant a breviary, the book of the daily office (the cursus).^[4][1] Used of a horse it was a swift courser,^[3][4][6] and used of men at sea a pirate or corsair,^[3][4] a sense the GMLC finds first, perhaps, in the Usatges of Barcelona in the first half of the 12th century.^[7] The MLW also has an adjective, swift or express, and a fast kind of ship,^[4] and Du Cange a scribe who wrote in shorthand.^[6]

The pirate sense lived on in Italian corsaro, which gave French corsaire and English corsair;^[1][5] through Hungarian huszár, from a Serbian variant of the Italian word, it is also the source of hussar.^[5][1] The horse sense passed into Old French corsier, the source of the English word.^[1][5]

Timeline

• 1032/55 – A library catalogue lists an old cursarius, a breviary.^[4]
• first half of the 12th century – The Usatges of Barcelona name cursarii beside sailors, perhaps the oldest record of the pirate sense.^[7]
• 1199 – An imperial act refuses harbour to corsairs from Pisa and Genoa.^[4]
• 1219 – Oliver of Paderborn uses the adjective of camels carrying messages.^[4][2]
• c. 1300 – English borrows courser “swift horse” from Old French.^[5]
• 1358 – A Hungarian charter forbids harbouring cursarii and evildoers in the ports.^[8]
• 1540s – English takes corsair from French.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (Medieval Latin) Swift, running fast; express.^[4][2]
2. (Medieval Latin) Usual, regular.^[2]

Noun

1. (Medieval Latin) A pirate, a corsair.^[3][4][8][7]
2. (Medieval Latin) A swift horse, a courser.^[3][4][6]
3. (Medieval Latin) A liturgical book, a breviary.^[3][4][1]
4. (Medieval Latin) A fast ship.^[4]
5. (Medieval Latin) A scribe writing in shorthand.^[6]

Related words

• English corsair
• English courser

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
3. ^ a b c d e f g Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
7. ^ a b c Glossarium Mediae Latinitatis Cataloniae (1960–; online ed. 2025), Barcelona: CSIC / Institució Milà i Fontanals, gmlc.imf.csic.es
8. ^ a b Bartal, Antal, et al. (1987–), Lexicon Latinitatis Medii Aevi Hungariae, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online ed. ELTE