esca

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈeːs.ka]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈɛs.ka]^[1]

Forms

ēsca f (genitive ēscae); first declension^[1] Livius Andronicus has the old genitive escās.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *ēsskā, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ēd-s-keh₂, from *h₁ed- (“to eat”), the root of edō “to eat”.^[1][2] Wiktionary takes the long vowel to be original, judging by Lithuanian ėskà (“food, fodder”), and the OLD calls the ending uncertain.^[1][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's earliest source is Livius Andronicus, whom he dates 280/260–before 200 BC.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It was food, mostly plural or collective, as in Plautus and Cicero's escīs et pōtiōnibus vescuntur “they eat and drink”, and food used as a lure, bait, as in Ovid.^[2][4]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it was food, meat.^[5] Medieval Latin used it for pannage, the feeding of pigs on acorns, and for a dish of meat.^[6] British Medieval Latin used it for food, also figuratively.^[7]

Timeline

• 280/260–before 200 BC – Livius Andronicus uses it.^[3]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^[2][3]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of bait.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. Food.^[2]
2. Bait.^[2]
3. (Medieval Latin) Pannage; a dish of meat.^[6]

Word family

• escalis
• ēscārius
• escifer
• escō
• ēsculentus
• adēscō
• ēscātilis
• inēscō

Related words

• edō

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
5. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
6. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ 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