instita

Forms

īnstita f (genitive īnstitae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is probably from Latin īnstō (“to stand on, press upon”),^[2][3] formed as a feminine beside an unrecorded noun ⟨*īnstes, -itis⟩, like antistita beside antistes.^[1] Lewis and Short connect it with īnsistō instead.^[4] The TLL finds a link with the verb hard to square with the meaning, and reports Szemerényi's suggestion of a Greek source.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Horace,^[6] of women whose ankles are covered by a flounce sewn onto the dress (quārum subsūtā tālōs tegit īnstita veste).^[2][4][7]

Semantic evolution

It was the band or flounce sewn on the lower edge of a married woman's stola, a mark of the respectable matron:^[2][4] Ovid speaks of the long īnstita and, by metonymy, of “no īnstita” for no lady being present.^[4][3][7]

It also meant any band or tape: in Petronius a maid takes two bands from her bosom to tie up feet and hands, and the girths of a bed frame are īnstitae.^[2][3][7] Scribonius Largus uses it of a bandage, and Statius has it too.^[4][3] Ecclesiastical Latin uses it of a bandage or winding band,^[8] and in British medieval Latin it was a ribbon, a bandage, a swaddling band, a winding sheet, and a woman's outer garment.^[9]

Timeline

• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of the flounce of a matron's dress.^[2][4][6]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it for matrons themselves.^[4][3][6]
• c. 47 AD – Scribonius Largus uses it of a bandage.^[4][3][6]
• before 66 AD – Petronius uses it of bands for tying and of bed girths.^[2][3][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A flounce or band sewn on the lower edge of a matron's dress;^[2][4][3] (poetic) a matron.^[2][4][3]
2. A band, tape or ribbon; a girth of a bed.^[2][3][7]
3. A bandage.^[4][8]
4. (Medieval Latin) A swaddling band; a winding sheet; a woman's outer garment.^[9]

Usage notes

Niermeyer records a separate medieval instita “mercer's shop”, formed from īnstitor “pedlar”.^[10]

References

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