harena

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [haˈreː.na]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [aˈrɛː.na]^[1]

Forms

harēna f (genitive harēnae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

Of unknown origin.^[2][3] Varro reports an older form asēna and a Sabine form fasēna,^[4][3] and Wiktionary relates these to Etruscan faśena (“sand; ashes”), suggesting an Etruscan source.^[1] De Vaan notes that the suffix may reflect an adjective in *-es-no- or a derivation from a verb in -ē-, but finds no etymology.^[2] Ancient grammarians explained the spelling with h from haerēre “to stick” or haurīre “to drink in”, and the form without it from ārēre “to be dry”.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is attested from Cato onwards,^[2][5] who lists sand with stone and lime among building materials.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Besides sand itself, the word named the sandy shore and sandy deserts.^[4][6] Because the floor of the amphitheatre was strewn with sand, harena came to mean that floor, the place of gladiatorial fights, and then the shows held there.^[4][6] From the 1st century AD it was used for any scene of struggle, as when Pliny the Younger calls the centumviral court harena mea.^[4] Pliny the Elder uses it also for urinary gravel.^[4]

The spelling without h was common, and it is the source of English arena.^[7][8]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it for building sand.^[4][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero writes of barbarians taking blows in harena.^[4][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it for the beach.^[4][5]
• 1st century AD – Lucan calls Italy the harena of civil war.^[4]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of kidney gravel.^[4][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. Sand, or (in the plural) grains of sand.^[4][6]
2. The sandy shore, the beach.^[4]
3. A sandy tract, a desert.^[4][9]
4. The floor of the amphitheatre, the arena; the shows held there.^[4][6]
5. (figurative) The scene of any struggle or dispute.^[4]
6. (medicine) Urinary gravel.^[4]

Word family

• exharēnō
• harēnāceus
• harēnārius
• harēnātiō
• harēnātus
• harēnifodīna
• harēnivagus
• harēnōsus
• harēnula
• arēnāceus
• harēnāria
• harēnārium

Related words

• English arena

Usage notes

Aulus Gellius reports that Caesar criticised the plural harenae as a fault of language, though poets used it.^[6] Georges and Gaffiot list the word under arena.^[7][9]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.