Etymologically
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gypsum

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈɡyp.sũː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈd͡ʒip.sum][1]

Forms

gypsum n (genitive gypsī); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek γύψος (gúpsos, “chalk, gypsum”).[2][1][3] Wiktionary regards the Greek word as Pre-Greek, while Etymonline reports Klein's view that it is perhaps Semitic.[1][4] Isidore of Seville notes that it is a Greek name.[5] A masculine gypsus is also found.[3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cato the Elder mentions it in his treatise on agriculture.[7][8] Köbler dates Cato 234–149 BC.[9]

Semantic evolution

It was gypsum or the plaster made from it, plaster of Paris, in Cato, Vitruvius, Celsus, Columella, Seneca and Pliny.[2][7] Juvenal uses it by metonymy of plaster busts, mocking houses full of plaster images of Chrysippus.[8][7] Isidore of Seville says it is related to lime and is used for the figures and cornices of buildings.[5]

Medieval Latin used it of gypsum, chalk, lime, alabaster and selenite, and of gypsum quarries.[10][6] It survives in Italian gesso and Spanish yeso.[1] English gypsum is recorded in the late 14th century, and gesso came from Italian in the 1590s.[4]

Timeline

  • 234–149 BC – Cato the Elder mentions it.[7][9]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder describes it.[7][9]
  • c. 67–c. 127 AD – Juvenal uses it of plaster busts.[8][9]
  • late 14th century – English gypsum is recorded.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. gypsum; plaster.[2][1]
  2. A plaster figure.[8][1]
  3. (Medieval Latin) Chalk, lime; alabaster.[10][6]

Word family

  • gypseus
  • gypsō

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
  6. ^ 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
  7. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  8. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  10. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften