Etymologically
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fossa

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈfɔs.sa][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈfɔs.sa][1]

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
  • 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