fossatum

Forms

fossātum n (genitive fossātī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is the neuter past participle, used as a noun, from Latin fossō (“to dig”),^[2][3][1] which is an intensive of fodiō (“to dig”).^[2] A masculine fossātus was used beside it.^[2][4]

Wiktionary lists Italian fossato, Old French fossé, Catalan fossat, Aromanian fusate and Romanian sat (“village”) among its descendants.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Palladius uses it for a ditch,^[3][2] and Köbler also cites the Historia Augusta,^[5] both of the late 4th or early 5th century AD.^[5]

Semantic evolution

From a ditch, especially a military trench,^[1] it came to mean the earthworks of a fortification and the fortified camp itself.^[1][6] In the glossaries it also renders Greek τάφρος (táphros, “ditch”)^[7] and is glossed as a grave.^[2]

Medieval Latin used it for a ditch, canal or moat, a dike or rampart, a fortified camp, an army, a walled stronghold, and the duty of keeping dikes in repair.^[6] The sense army is especially Spanish.^[1] In British sources it is a ditch or dike, and the moat of a town, castle or house.^[8] It was also spelled fossetum and fosseium.^[6][5]

Timeline

• end of 4th–beginning of 5th century AD – Palladius uses it for a ditch.^[3][5]
• 4th–5th century AD – The Historia Augusta has it.^[5]
• 1111 – A charter for St Paul's grants earth from a castle moat by the Thames for building the church's wall.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A ditch or trench, especially a military one.^[2][3][1]
2. (Late Latin, Medieval Latin) A fortified camp.^[1][6]
3. (Medieval Latin) A moat; a canal.^[6][8]
4. (Medieval Latin) A dike, embankment or rampart.^[6][8]
5. (Medieval Latin) An army.^[6][1]
6. (Medieval Latin) A walled stronghold.^[6]
7. (Medieval Latin) The duty of building and keeping up dikes.^[6]

Related words

• fodicō
• fodīna
• fodiō
• fossa
• fossātus
• fossīcius
• fossilis
• fossiō
• fossō
• fossor

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
4. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ Goetz, Georg (1888–1923), Corpus glossariorum Latinorum, Leipzig: Teubner; vols. VI–VII Thesaurus glossarum emendatarum, digital ed. CGLO, Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ a b c d 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