dromedarius

Forms

dromedārius m (genitive dromedāriī); second declension^[1] Also spelled ⟨dromadarius⟩ and ⟨dromendarius⟩.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is from Latin dromas (“dromedary”) + -ārius.^[1][2][5] The base dromas is short for Ancient Greek δρομὰς κάμηλος (dromàs kámēlos, “running camel”), from δρομάς (dromás, “running, swift”).^[1] The TLL reports Kretschmer's suggestion that the ⟨e⟩ of the second syllable replaced ⟨a⟩ on the model of words such as veredārius (“courier”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Jerome is its first author.^[5][2] In his commentary on Isaiah he uses it as an adjective, of the dromedāriī camēlī on which the Ishmaelites flee across the desert more than a hundred miles in a day,^[2] and in the Life of Malchus he speaks of camels that are called dromedāriī because of their great speed.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

The Vulgate has it in Isaiah 60:6, and it became the usual name for the swift camel, the dromedary.^[6][7] A glossary explains dromedāriī as runners or couriers.^[2] In medieval chronicles dromedaries appear as booty with camels, horses and asses,^[4] and annals under the year 1235 tell how the emperor's envoys led two of them into Cremona.^[4] Hildegard uses it figuratively.^[4]

It also came to mean the man who drives or keeps the animals: Old High German glosses render it with marahscalhha,^[4] and an English glossary explains it as the keeper of dromedaries, also used for the animal itself.^[3] Polish sources use it for a swift horse and for a rider on a camel.^[8] In an English record of 1321 it is a large ship, a dromond.^[3] English dromedary came in the late 13th century from Old French and directly from the Latin word.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome uses it of a swift kind of camel.^[2][5]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate has it in Isaiah 60:6.^[6][7][5]
• 2nd half of the 12th century – Hildegard uses it figuratively.^[4][5]
• 1235 – Annals tell of two dromedaries led into Cremona.^[4]
• late 13th century – English dromedary is recorded.^[9]
• 1321 – An English record uses it of a ship.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A dromedary, a swift kind of camel;^{[6][7][10][2]} in Jerome also as an adjective, dromedāriī camēlī.^[2]
2. (Medieval Latin) A camel driver; a keeper or rider of dromedaries.^{[4][3][11][8]}
3. (Medieval Latin) A swift horse.^[8][11]
4. (Medieval Latin) A large ship, a dromond.^[3]

Related words

• English dromedary

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e f 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; 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 d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
11. ^ a b Latinitatis medii aevi lexicon Bohemorum / Slovník středověké latiny v českých zemích (1977–), Prague: Academia; electronic version, Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences