Etymologically
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ganeo

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Forms

gāneō m (genitive gāneōnis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin gānea (“eating-house, low tavern”) + -ō,[2][1][3] or from gāneum, the same noun.[4] De Vaan takes this noun to be probably a loanword and compares a West Semitic word for “garden”, the source also of Ancient Greek γάνος (gános, “pleasure garden”), a Cypriot word.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Naevius is the first to use it, in a comedy.[5][3][6]

Semantic evolution

Terence puts it in a string of insults beside gerrō, iners, fraus and helluō.[7] In the second speech against Catiline Cicero lists it beside parricīda, nepōs “spendthrift” and adulter,[7] and elsewhere he calls a man a curly-haired glutton.[8] Sallust, Seneca and Tacitus use it of the debauched;[3][8] Tacitus contrasts a gāneō with a man of refined luxury.[8] Lactantius sets it against the self-controlled man.[3]

The grammarian Priscian claimed that the word occurs only in the nominative and accusative, which Georges shows to be false.[3] Prudentius scans the first syllable short.[3][4] Medieval writers used it for a glutton or wastrel,[9] and British glossaries also for a scoundrel and for an innkeeper or a frequenter of inns.[10]

Timeline

  • c. 235–200 BC – Naevius uses it in a comedy.[3][6]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence uses it among insults.[7][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it in the speeches against Catiline.[7][6]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus contrasts it with refined luxury.[8][6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A glutton, debauchee, a frequenter of taverns.[2][7][11]
  2. (Medieval Latin) A scoundrel, a dirty rascal.[10]
  3. (Medieval Latin) An innkeeper.[10]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  4. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  9. ^ Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  10. ^ a b c 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
  11. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.