iaspis

Forms

iaspis f (genitive iaspidis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ἴασπις (íaspis, “jasper”).^[2][3][4] The Greek word is an oriental loanword, compared by Beekes with Akkadian jašpu, the name of a stone, and perhaps Egyptian in the end.^[5] Wiktionary compares Persian یشپ (yašp).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Virgil has it in the Aeneid (4.261), of a tawny (fulva) jasper.^[4][6]

Semantic evolution

It named several kinds of chalcedony and jasper;^[2] Pliny the Elder describes its kinds at length.^[4][7] Lewis & Short and Georges call it a green precious stone.^[4][8] Augustus, in a letter quoted by Macrobius, used it as a term of endearment for Maecenas.^[4]

It was used in the Vulgate, and Medieval Latin also spelled it jaspis.^[8][9][10] English jasper came from Anglo-French jaspre, which goes back to the Latin accusative iaspidem.^[11]

Timeline

• 70–19 BC – Virgil mentions a tawny jasper in the Aeneid.^[4][6][12]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder describes the kinds of jasper.^[4][8][12]
• 39–65 AD – Lucan uses the word.^[8][12]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it in Exodus and Isaiah.^[8][12]
• c. 1300 – English borrows the word as jasper through Anglo-French.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. jasper, a name for various kinds of chalcedony.^[2]
2. A green precious stone.^[4][8]
3. (figurative) A term of endearment.^[4]

Word family

• iaspidēus
• iaspius

Related words

• English jasper

Usage notes

The genitive is iaspidis or iaspidos.^[2][6] Accusatives iaspin (Tertullian), iaspidem (Vulgate) and the plural iaspidas (Martial) occur,^[8] and the TLL records a popular nominative iasper.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ a b c d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
9. ^ 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
10. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
12. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de