Etymologically
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dolabra

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [dɔˈɫaː.bra][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [doˈlaː.bra][1]

Forms

dolābra f (genitive dolābrae); first declension[1] A neuter dolābrum occurs in the old Latin Psalms and in glossaries, which also have dolobra, dolubra and delebra.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin dolō1 (“to hew”) + -bra.[4][1][2] Rix takes it as an old instrument noun, Proto-Indo-European *delh₁-dʰreh₂-, and so as evidence that dolō1 was a primary verb rather than one made from a noun.[5] De Vaan traces the verb to Proto-Indo-European *dolh₁-ie/o- (“to cut repeatedly”) or *d(e)lh₁-ie/o- (“to cut”), comparing Lithuanian dìlti (“to wear off, disappear”).[5]

Isidore of Seville explained the name from the tool having “two lips”.[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's earliest source is Cincius, whom he dates to about 200 BC.[7] De Vaan finds it from Livy on,[5] where pickaxes are handed out to the camp servants to tear down a rampart and fill in the ditches.[2]

Semantic evolution

It was above all a military tool for undermining walls and breaking down gates and earthworks, in Livy, Curtius and Tacitus;[2][8] Vegetius lists it among a legion's tools.[2] Curtius also has it used to hack vessels apart and to break ice,[2] and a saying of Domitius Corbulo, that the enemy must be beaten with the pickaxe, meant by siege works.[2] The prefect of the night watch patrolled with hooks and pickaxes,[2] farmers used it to grub up roots and to cut away dry shoots,[2][8] and the jurists mention it as a butcher's tool.[8]

In Medieval Latin it was an axe, chisel or plane for working wood and stone, and by extension the stonemason's craft and a levy on it;[9] British glosses render it as broad-axe.[10] The TLL notes Old French dolavre.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 200 BC – Cincius uses it.[7]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of pickaxes for tearing down ramparts and walls.[2][7]
  • 1st century AD – Columella uses it of a farm tool for grubbing up roots.[2][7]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of soldiers' tools for breaking walls.[2][7]
  • after 220 AD – The old Latin Psalms have the neuter dolābrum.[2][7]
  • c. 400 AD – Vegetius lists it among a legion's tools.[2][7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A pickaxe or mattock, used by soldiers to break down walls and earthworks.[4][8][3]
  2. A farm tool for grubbing up roots and pruning.[8][2]
  3. A butcher's tool.[8]
  4. (Medieval Latin) An axe, chisel or plane for wood or stone.[9][10]

Word family

  • Dolābella
  • dolābrārius
  • dolābrātus

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  4. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  8. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  10. ^ a b 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