flasco

Forms

flascō m or f (genitive flascōnis); third declension^[1] Medieval forms include ⟨flesco⟩, ⟨flasconus⟩, ⟨flascus⟩, ⟨flasca⟩ and ⟨frascia⟩;^[2][3] the MLW also records a rare feminine ⟨flascona⟩.^[4]

Etymology

It is probably borrowed from Frankish *flaskā (“bottle, flask”), from Proto-Germanic *flaskǭ.^[1] Niermeyer also marks it as Germanic,^[2] and Köbler derives it from the Germanic noun, whose further origin he calls unclear.^[3] Etymonline is more cautious: the word is common to Germanic and Romance, and it is not clear whether the Latin or the Germanic form is the original, or whether both were taken from Celtic.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Ennodius is its first author, in a joking epigram on a drunkard, which speaks of the wife of “Flasco”, dowered with casks of Falernian.^[6][3] Gregory the Great then uses it as an everyday word: he writes of small wooden vessels “which are commonly called flascōnēs”.^[6][7][8]

Semantic evolution

In Medieval Latin it was a flask, jug or skin, or a small cask for carrying wine.^[4][2][9] Alcuin's Life of Willibrord tells how twelve poor men were fed from one flask of wine;^[4] Hincmar writes of a vessel that common usage calls a flascō, and Salimbene notes that what the Tuscans call a flascō the Lombards call a botacium.^[4] In the Hungarian chronicles it is a wooden keg made on the lathe, in which a crown was hidden,^[10] and a Polish record of 1437 uses it of a casket holding gold.^[11] The British sources describe it as a flask, small wooden keg or skin for liquor, and later a metal or glass bottle.^[12] It also forms the place name Mōns Flascōnis, Montefiascone.^[4]

It survives in Italian fiasco, Old French flascon and Spanish frasco,^[1][3] and Byzantine Greek borrowed it as φλασκίον (phlaskíon).^[1] English flask comes from it directly, flagon through Old French, and fiasco through the Italian phrase far fiasco, literally “make a bottle”.^[5]

Timeline

• before 513 AD – Ennodius uses it as the joking name of a drunkard.^[6][3]
• 540–604 AD – Gregory the Great writes of wooden vessels commonly called flascōnēs.^[6][7][3]
• 2nd half of the 8th century – Alcuin's Life of Willibrord has a flask of wine that feeds twelve poor men.^[4][3]
• 1162 – An imperial act names the town of Mōns Flascōnis.^[4]
• 1282–1287 – Salimbene gives the Lombard word for what the Tuscans call a flascō.^[4][3]
• mid-14th century – English borrows flask from Medieval Latin.^[5]
• 1437 – A Polish record uses it of a casket for gold.^[11]
• mid-15th century – English flagon is recorded, from Old French.^[5]
• 1855 – English fiasco appears in theatre slang.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Late Latin) A bottle, wine flask.^[7][8][6][1]
2. (Medieval Latin) A jug or skin for liquids; a small portable cask or keg.^{[2][4][10][12]}
3. (Medieval Latin) A small box, casket.^[11]

Related words

• English flask
• English flagon
• English fiasco

Usage notes

Du Cange records a second medieval flascō, a kind of flat cake (French flan), from a document of 1371.^[13]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b Bartal, Antal, et al. (1987–), Lexicon Latinitatis Medii Aevi Hungariae, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online ed. ELTE
11. ^ a b c Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl
12. ^ 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
13. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre