frontalis

Forms

frontālis (neuter frontāle); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin frōns² (“forehead, front”) + -ālis.^[2][1][3] The TLL notes its Romance descendants: Italian frontale, French frontal and Spanish frontal.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word appears in the Notae Tironianae,^[2] which Köbler dates between AD 500 and the 9th century.^[3] An undated inscription uses it as a noun of the front part of a building, perhaps a fronting or retaining wall, beside a porch and a kitchen;^[2][4] the TLL considers the exact sense uncertain.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Medieval Latin it was an adjective meaning “of the forehead”, used of an ointment to be put on the forehead,^[5] and the neuter served as a noun for the front panel of an object.^[5] In church use it named the decorated cloth or panel hung in front of an altar, the altar frontal,^[5][6] and in Hungary also a shroud covering the dead.^[7]

English took frontal in the 1650s from the Modern Latin adjective.^[8]

Timeline

• 500–900 – The word is recorded in the Notae Tironianae.^[2][3]
• c. 1250 – Cloths for the front of an altar are listed in an English inventory.^[6]
• 1295 – An inventory names a painted altar front (tabula frontalis).^[6]
• 1650s – English borrows the adjective as frontal.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (Medieval Latin) Of the forehead; applied to the forehead.^[5][6]
2. (Medieval Latin, ecclesiastical) For the front of an altar.^[6]

Noun

1. The front part of a building, perhaps a fronting or retaining wall.^[4][2]
2. (Medieval Latin) A front panel or plate.^[5]
3. (Medieval Latin, ecclesiastical) An altar frontal, a hanging in front of the altar.^[5][6]
4. (Medieval Latin) A shroud covering the dead.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b c d e f 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 Bartal, Antal, et al. (1987–), Lexicon Latinitatis Medii Aevi Hungariae, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online ed. ELTE
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com