Etymologically
Log in

granarium

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 21:21. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɡraːˈnaː.ri.ũː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ɡraˈnaː.ri.um][1]

Forms

grānārium n (genitive grānāriī or grānārī); second declension[1] It is usually plural, grānāria.[2][3] Medieval spellings include forms beginning with gre- and ger-.[4]

Etymology

It is from Latin grānum + -ārium.[5][1] The noun grānum (“grain”) goes back to Proto-Italic *grāno- and Proto-Indo-European *ǵrh2-no- (“which has ripened, fruit, grain”).[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has it first, in the Truculentus, for a granary.[3][7][8]

Semantic evolution

It kept the one sense of a storehouse for grain throughout Latin.[5][4] Varro, who also has the singular, advises keeping wheat in raised granaries through which the wind can blow,[2] and Columella, Pliny the Elder, Vitruvius, Palladius, Cicero, Horace and Persius also use the word.[2]

It lives on in Italian granaio.[7] English borrowed the plural as granary in the 1560s, and had earlier taken garner in the late 12th century from Old French, which goes back to this word.[9]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it in the Truculentus.[3][7][8]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato mentions granaries in his work on farming.[7][8]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro advises on building granaries.[2][8]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses the plural.[2][3][8]
  • late 12th century – English takes garner through Old French.[9]
  • 1560s – English borrows the plural as granary.[9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A granary, a storehouse for grain (usually in the plural).[5][2]
  • English granary
  • English garner

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  4. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  5. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  7. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  8. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  9. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com