Etymologically
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essedum

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈɛs.sɛ.dũː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈɛs.se.dum][1]

Forms

essedum n (genitive essedī); second declension[1] A first-declension feminine esseda also occurs.[2][3]

Etymology

It is a Gaulish word, borrowed from Gaulish *ensedon, apparently made from the equivalents of “in” and “sit”, as the OLD and Köbler give it;[2][4][3] Köbler links its parts to Proto-Indo-European *en (“in”) and Proto-Indo-European *sed- (“to sit”).[4] Wiktionary instead derives it from a Gaulish form with the prefix ⟨*eks-⟩ and compares Old Breton assedam.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it first in Cicero and Caesar;[3] Caesar describes how the Britons fought from these chariots, leaping down to fight on foot.[3]

Semantic evolution

It was a war chariot of the Gauls, Britons and Belgae,[2][3] which the Romans took over, apparently in Cicero's time, as a light travelling carriage;[2][3] later writers use it of any carriage.[3] A first-declension form esseda appears in Seneca.[2][3] Niermeyer glosses it “chariot, waggon”,[5] and in British Medieval Latin Aldhelm uses it of the constellation of the Wain.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 50 BC – Caesar, of British war chariots.[3][4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it.[3][4]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca has the feminine esseda.[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A two-wheeled war chariot of the Gauls and Britons.[2][3][1]
  2. A light travelling carriage modelled on it; any carriage.[2][3][1]
  3. (Medieval Latin, astronomy) The Wain.[6]

Word family

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 i j k l Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  6. ^ 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