horarius

Forms

hōrārius (feminine hōrāria, neuter hōrārium); first/second-declension adjective^[1][2] Also spelled ⟨orarius⟩.^[1][2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin hōra (“hour”) + -ārius.^[4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first record is from about 1150, in the British sources that Latham collected;^[1] among them, the DMLBS quotes Robert Pullen's Sentences, which contrast eternal life with life that lasts only an hour.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In the 12th century it meant lasting only an hour, short-lived:^[3][2] Wolbero says that charity in the saints is not short-lived but lasting, and Peter of Trier says the same of the remorse of monks.^[2] Albertus Magnus uses it for what belongs to an hour, beside diurnus, “daily”.^[2] Later it meant marking the hours, of the hour lines of a clock or a dial,^[3][5] and Copernicus uses it for the space of an hour.^[5]

In the Church it referred to the canonical hours: Niermeyer records it of money paid as a fee for saying them,^[4] and Erasmus, in a letter of 1520, speaks of the offices called hōrāria.^[3] As a masculine noun it was a cleric who sang the hours, in a charter of Magdeburg of 1179 and at Chartres, where Du Cange gives the French heurier;^[2][6][4] at Paris it was also the officer who paid the canons who attended the hours.^[6] A medieval Greek glossary gives it for one who watches the hour of a birth, an astrologer.^[6] The neuter noun hōrārium, a book of hymns for the hours, appears in Gottschalk the Saxon, although the manuscripts read ōrārium.^[2] It is the source of Italian orario.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1150 – Köbler's first record, from British sources.^[1]
• mid-12th century – Wolbero says that charity in the saints is not short-lived.^[2][1]
• 1179 – A charter of the archbishop of Magdeburg names a cantor of the hours among its witnesses.^[2][1]
• 13th century – Albertus Magnus uses it of what belongs to an hour.^[2][1]
• 1367 – A charter for Chartres speaks of the college of the hōrāriī.^[6]
• 1520 – Erasmus speaks of the offices called hōrāria.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of an hour, hourly.^[2][1][8]
2. Lasting only an hour, short-lived.^[3][2]
3. Marking the hours, of a clock or dial.^[3][5][8]
4. Of the canonical hours; paid as a fee for saying them.^[4][3][5]

Noun

1. A cleric who sings the canonical hours in place of a canon.^[4][2][6]
2. An officer who pays the canons who attend the hours.^[6]
3. An astrologer who watches the hour of a birth.^[6]

Related words

• hōrārium
• horologium

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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
4. ^ a b c d e Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
5. ^ a b c d Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl
6. ^ a b c d e f g du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
7. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b Latinitatis medii aevi lexicon Bohemorum / Slovník středověké latiny v českých zemích (1977–), Prague: Academia; electronic version, Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences