danista

Forms

danīsta m (genitive danīstae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek δανειστής (daneistḗs, “moneylender, creditor”),^[2][3][1][4] from δανείζω (daneízō, “to lend at interest”) and δάνος (dános, “loan”).^[5] Köbler connects them with Proto-Indo-European *dā- (“to divide”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found only in Plautus,^[3][5] who writes in the Epidicus of money borrowed at interest from a moneylender.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It is a word of Plautus' comedies for the moneylender or usurer, used by Plautus in the Epidicus, the Mostellaria and the Pseudolus;^[3][4] the ordinary Latin word was fēnerātor, which Paulus' epitome of Festus uses to explain it.^[3][4] Plautus also has the adjective danīsticus, for the moneylending kind of people.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it in several comedies.^[3][4][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A moneylender, usurer, creditor.^[2][3][1]

Word family

• danīsticus

Related words

• fēnerātor

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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de