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diarius

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word diarius

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 1004, Amorbach
Ultimate origin
Latin diēs
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin dies
Latin diarius
From the same root
Latin Dialis ← dies

Forms

diārius (feminine diāria, neuter diārium); first/second-declension adjective; also a second-declension masculine noun diārius (genitive diāriī).[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin diēs (“day”),[1][2] with the suffix -ārius; the OLD derives the classical noun diārium in the same way, with -ārium.[3] Etymonline treats that noun as the neuter of an adjective “daily”,[4] and Wiktionary's etymology of it sets up an unattested *diārius as its base.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its earliest record is the noun “day labourer” in a text from Amorbach of about 1004, used figuratively of a worker in the Lord's vineyard.[1][2]

Semantic evolution

As an adjective it means “daily, of a day”: Peter Damian, in the 11th century, tells of a man who had nine daily portions of bread in his stomach at once.[2][1] Stelten records the adjective “daily” in Ecclesiastical Latin.[6]

The masculine noun named a hired day labourer, beside other dependants in a spurious Württemberg charter,[2] and in Polish records of the 14th and 15th centuries a person who received a daily allowance of food, a sense the eLexicon Polonorum derives from diārium.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 1004 – A text from Amorbach uses the noun for a day labourer.[1][2]
  • 11th century – Peter Damian uses the adjective “daily”.[1][2]
  • 1389 – Kraków accounts use the noun for people receiving a daily allowance.[7]
  • 1568 – A Polish account uses summa diaria for a daily total.[7]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Daily, of a day.[6][2][1]

Noun

  1. (Medieval Latin) A day labourer, a hired worker.[2][1]
  2. (Medieval Latin) A person who receives a daily allowance of food.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b c d Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl
Cite this entry

“Diarius.” Etymologically, 24 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/diarius. Accessed 24 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·