cursura

Forms

cursūra f (genitive cursūrae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin currō + -ūra.^[2][1] De Vaan explains the nouns in ⟨curs-⟩ as built on the past participle cursus,^[3] and currō (“to run”) goes back to Proto-Italic *korse/o- and Proto-Indo-European *krs-e/o- (“to run”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus uses it several times, first in the Asinaria, where a slave is still panting from running.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

Plautus also has it of training for a race at the Olympic games.^[4][6] Varro uses it of horses fit for running, as against those for war or for carrying, and Apuleius has a horse quick at running.^[4][6] Lewis & Short call it ante-classical,^[7] but Ammianus Marcellinus still uses it of auxiliaries light for running.^[4][6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of running and of training for a race.^[4][5]
• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of horses fit for running.^[4][5]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it of a horse.^[4][5]
• c. 390 AD – Ammianus Marcellinus uses it of light-armed auxiliaries.^[4][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. running, especially in a race.^[2][7]

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press