Etymologically
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funda

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈfʊn.da][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈfun.da][1]

Forms

funda f (genitive fundae); first declension[1]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.[2][3] De Vaan allows a derivation from Proto-Indo-European *bʰondʰ-h₂- (“tie, strap”), from the root *bʰendʰ- "to bind", but also a loanword from an unknown language, which may be the source of Ancient Greek σφενδόνη (sphendónē, “sling”) too.[3] The TLL thinks it a distortion of the Greek word, made as if from fundō (“to pour, hurl”).[4] Isidore derived it from the hurling of stones.[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus, in the Poenulus, where a character says he gave a legion birdlime and slings.[3][7][2]

Semantic evolution

It is a leather strap for hurling stones.[2][6] Virgil uses it of a casting net with which a fisherman lashes the river, and Pliny the Elder of the setting of a gem.[2] In medieval Latin it is a purse or pouch.[8] Church Latin glosses it sling.[9]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of slings.[2][3][7]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of a casting net.[2][7]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of a gem setting.[2][7]
  • c. 560–636 AD – Isidore explains the name.[5][7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A sling for hurling stones.[2][6][9][1]
  2. A casting net.[2]
  3. The setting of a gem, bezel.[2]
  4. (Medieval Latin) A purse, pouch.[8]

Word family

  • fundibalum

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
  6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  9. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson