fossa

Forms

fossa f (genitive fossae); first declension^[1] A grammarian states that its o is short.^[2]

Etymology

It is the feminine participle of fodiō (“to dig”), short for ⟨fossa terra⟩ “dug earth”.^[3][4][1][5] Varro derived it from digging (⟨ā fodiendō⟩).^[2] De Vaan traces the verb to Proto-Italic *foþ-i- and Proto-Indo-European *bʰodʰ-i- (“to poke, dig”), cognate with Hittite padda- (“to dig”), Lithuanian bèsti (“to stick, dig”) and Old Church Slavonic бости (bosti, “to stab”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it from Ennius on, and de Vaan from Cato.^[7][6]

Semantic evolution

A fossa is a long narrow excavation, a ditch or trench, especially for drainage; in war it is a moat or the trench of a siege line (Caesar fortifies a camp with an eighteen-foot ditch), and in water management a canal (Caesar's channels to divert the Sicoris).^[3] Lucretius uses it of any rut or groove filled by the sea.^[3] Wiktionary adds the furrow drawn to mark a town's foundations, a boundary, and in Late Latin a grave.^[1]

Church Latin glosses it “ditch, trench, grave”.^[8] Medieval Latin uses it for a millrace, a quarry or ore-pit, a dike, and the labour service of keeping moats in repair.^[9] English fosse “ditch” (early 14th century) came through Old French.^[5]

Timeline

• 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it.^[7]
• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it.^[6][7]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar of a camp's moat and of diversion canals.^[3][7]
• early 14th century – English fosse, through Old French.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A ditch, trench, drain.^[3][1][8]
2. A moat, fosse.^[3][1]
3. A canal, waterway.^[3][1]
4. A rut, groove; a furrow marking foundations; a boundary.^[3][1]
5. (Late Latin) A grave.^[1][8]
6. (Medieval Latin) A millrace; a quarry; a dike.^[9]

Word family

• fossula

Related words

• fodiō
• fossīcius
• fossilis
• English fosse

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
9. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill