frontale

Forms

frontāle n (genitive frontālis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin frōns² (“forehead”) + -ālis, first as the neuter plural ⟨frontālia⟩ of the adjective.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Livy uses the plural frontālia for the trappings on the foreheads of elephants, which together with their crests made them look larger.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it was mostly plural, for the ornament or guard worn on the forehead of an elephant or a horse;^[2][4] Pliny the Elder says that a kind of shell was made into such trappings for the horses of eastern kings.^[2] Ammianus Marcellinus uses frontālia for the front parts of a testūdō.^[4] Glossaries equate it with Greek prometōpídion.^[4][3]

In Medieval Latin the singular named a horse's frontlet and a part of a woman's headdress,^[5][6] and, in church use, the cloth hanging in front of an altar, the frontal.^[5][7][6]

Timeline

• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses frontālia of elephants' head trappings.^[2][3]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder mentions frontālia for the horses of eastern kings.^[2][3]
• c. 390 AD – Ammianus Marcellinus uses it for the front parts of a testūdō.^[4][3]
• 1060–1070 – A Gembloux source uses it in a medieval sense.^[3]
• 1272 – An English record mentions an altar frontal given by the king.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. (usually plural) An ornament or guard covering the forehead of an elephant or horse.^[2][4]
2. (plural) The front parts of something.^[4]
3. (Medieval Latin) A woman's frontlet, part of a headdress.^[6]
4. (Ecclesiastical Latin) An altar frontal, the cloth hanging in front of an altar.^[5][7][6]

Related words

• frontālis

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
6. ^ a b c d e 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
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson