emplastrum

Forms

emplastrum n (genitive emplastrī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ἔμπλαστρον (émplastron, “daub, salve”),^[2][3][1][4] from ἐμπλάσσω (emplássō, “to daub on”), a compound of ἐν (en, “in”) and πλάσσω (plássō, “to mould, form”).^[1][4] Wiktionary notes that ἔμπλαστρον replaced the older Greek form ἔμπλαστον (émplaston).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Cato's work on agriculture, where gypsum is ground until it is as thick as a plaster.^[2][5][4]

Semantic evolution

As a medical term it meant a plaster or salve spread on wounds and sores, in Varro, Celsus and Pliny the Elder.^[2][3][5] In farming it named the piece of bark used in budding, the “shield”, in Columella and Pliny.^[2][5] The mime-writer Laberius used it figuratively, as Gellius reports: an oath is a plaster for debt.^[3] The TLL records spellings with in- and im- in Pliny, Gellius and Palladius,^[6] and Gellius also has a feminine emplastra.^[3]

Medieval Latin kept the medical sense, for people and animals, and used it figuratively too;^[7][8] the MLW also records spellings with am-, im- and inp-.^[8]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato compares a mixture's thickness to that of a plaster.^[2][4]
• 14–37 AD – Celsus uses it for medical plasters.^[3][5][4]
• 1st century AD – Columella uses it for the piece of bark used in budding.^[2][4]
• c. 165 AD – Gellius quotes Laberius calling an oath a plaster for debt.^[3][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (medicine) A plaster, a salve spread on a wound or sore.^[2][3][5]
2. (agriculture) A piece of bark with a bud, used in budding, a scutcheon.^[2][5]
3. (figurative) A remedy or palliative.^[3][7]

Word family

• emplastrō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e f Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften