itinerarium

Forms

itinerārium n (genitive itinerāriī or itinerārī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin itinerārius (“of a journey”), its neuter used as a noun,^[2][3][4] which is formed from iter “journey” (stem ⟨itiner-⟩).^[5][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Conte cites it first from the Old Latin Bible (Numbers 33.1),^[6] which Köbler dates after 220 AD;^[7] there it is the account of a journey, the list of the stages of a route.^[6]

Semantic evolution

In Vegetius' work on warfare it is a road-book listing places and the distances between them, between them.^[2][8][1] Ammianus Marcellinus uses it for the signal to march, sounded on the trumpets.^[2][3]

Medieval writers used it for a journey or voyage itself, a military march or expedition, a crusade, a written account of a journey, and a book of rules for travellers.^[9] In Ecclesiastical Latin the itinerarium is also a set of prayers for a safe journey.^[10] Medieval Czech sources used it for provisions for the road as well.^[11] English took it over in the mid-15th century as itinerary, “route of travel”.^[4]

Timeline

• after 220 AD – The Old Latin Bible has it for the account of the stages of a journey.^[6][7]
• 193–211 AD – It appears in an inscription from Vicarello in Etruria.^[12]
• c. 390 AD – Ammianus Marcellinus uses it for the signal to march.^[2][3][7]
• c. 400 AD – Vegetius uses it for a road-book of a region.^[2][8][7]
• 1518 – A Polish document speaks of the itinerary of a count travelling to the Holy Land.^[13]
• mid-15th century – Borrowed into English as itinerary.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. An account of a journey; an itinerary, a road-book listing places and distances.^[2][8][6]
2. (military) The signal to march.^[2][3][6]
3. (Medieval Latin) A journey, voyage; a military march or expedition; a crusade.^[9]
4. (Medieval Latin) A book of rules for travellers.^[9]
5. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Prayers for a safe journey.^[10]
6. (Medieval Latin) Provisions for a journey.^[11]

Related words

• English itinerary

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
11. ^ 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
12. ^ Kaše, Vojtěch; Heřmánková, Petra; Sobotková, Adéla et al. (2024), LIST: Latin Inscriptions in Space and Time, v1.2 (EDCS + EDH), Aarhus: SDAM, doi:10.5281/zenodo.10473706
13. ^ Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl