hydria

Forms

hydria f (genitive hydriae); first declension^[1] Manuscripts often spell it with ⟨y-⟩, ⟨hi-⟩ or ⟨i-⟩, but inscriptions always have ⟨hy-⟩.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ὑδρία (hudría, “water pot, urn”).^[3][4][5] Georges notes that the native Latin word was urna, and that Cicero uses the Greek one only when speaking of Greek settings.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found first in Cicero's speeches against Verres, of costly silver vessels given to Verres and of an urn into which lots were thrown in an election of priests.^[2][4][5]

Semantic evolution

The word named a water pot, often an ornamental one offered in temples,^[3] and then a jar or urn of any kind:^[6] Vitruvius has the vessel of water carried to the temple in Egyptian rites, inscriptions use it of cinerary urns in tombs, and Sulpicius Severus of a jar for meal.^[2][6][4]

In the Latin Bible it renders Greek hydria throughout, as in the story of Rebecca's water jar in Genesis 24.^[2] Cassiodorus calls the psalms jars that hold the heavenly wine.^[2] In medieval Latin it was also a measure of liquids,^[7] and in Ecclesiastical Latin it means a water jar.^[8]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of silver vessels and of an urn for lots.^[2][5]
• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of a water vessel in Egyptian temple rites.^[2][6]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it for the water jars of Genesis and other books.^[2][6]
• c. 363–c. 420 AD – Sulpicius Severus uses it of a jar for meal.^[4][6]
• c. 485–c. 580 AD – Cassiodorus compares the psalms to jars of wine.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A water pot, ewer, often an ornamental one used for offerings in temples.^[3][4]
2. A jar or urn of any kind, including one for drawing lots and a cinerary urn.^[6][4][2]
3. (Medieval Latin) A measure of liquids.^[7]

Related words

• urna

Usage notes

Hydria was also the title of a comedy by Menander, which Quintilian mentions.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson