hydraulicus

Forms

hydraulicus (feminine hydraulica, neuter hydraulicum); first/second-declension adjective^[1][2] Medieval spellings include idraulicus and forms with ydro-.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ὑδραυλικός (hudraulikós, “of the water organ”),^[1][5][3] from ὕδωρ (húdōr, “water”) and αὐλός (aulós, “pipe”).^[3][6] Within Latin it belongs with hydraulus, the water organ.^[7] English hydraulic comes from it through French.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Vitruvius is the first to use it: no one, he says, could build “hydraulicas machinas” and similar instruments without a knowledge of music (1.1.9), and he credits Ctesibius with first making them (9.8.4).^[7][2][3]

Semantic evolution

Its core use was for the water organ, called machinae or organa hydraulica,^[9][2] which Pliny the Elder also ascribes to Ctesibius;^[7] the OLD defines it more broadly, of machines worked by water flowing through pipes.^[1] Suetonius and Ammianus Marcellinus write of organa hydraulica too.^[2][9] Medieval writers kept it for organs: the Annals of Fulda, under the year 826, tell of a priest from Venice who built a water organ at Aachen,^[4] William of Malmesbury writes of organa hydraulica,^[10] and Osbern of Gloucester glosses it “sweet and sonorous”.^[10] As a neuter noun it named a water-driven instrument.^[4] Etymonline notes that the Romans extended the Greek term to other water engines.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius writes of hydraulicae machinae.^[7][3]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder ascribes the hydraulica organa to Ctesibius.^[7][3]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius mentions organa hydraulica.^[9][3]
• c. 390 AD – Ammianus Marcellinus writes of organa hydraulica.^[2][3]
• c. 1600 – English takes it up, through French, as hydraulic.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of the water organ;^{[1][9][2][11]} (of machines) worked by water flowing through pipes, hydraulic.^{[1][9][2][11]}
2. (Medieval Latin) Of an organ: sweet-sounding.^[10]

Noun

1. (Medieval Latin, neuter) A water-driven instrument.^[4]

Related words

• hydraulus
• English hydraulic

References

1. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
6. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
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. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.