Etymologically
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labina

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Forms

lābīna f (genitive lābīnae); first declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin lābor (“to slip, glide”), with the suffix -īna.[1][2][3][4] Wiktionary compares lābēs “fall, slip”.[1] Isidore of Seville derived it from that noun, because it makes those who walk on it slip.[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's earliest source is the Itala, the Old Latin Bible.[4] The first passage the dictionaries quote is in Augustine's commentary on Psalm 36, where it means a landslide.[2][3][7]

Semantic evolution

Isidore uses it for a slippery place,[6][5] and glossaries explain it as something that makes one fall and as water running over a road, floods.[8] In the Alps the medieval word meant an avalanche or a torrent, and figuratively a downfall;[9] in England it meant a marsh, fen or quicksand.[10] A French document of 1352 uses it for a pasture.[11]

Wiktionary lists among its descendants Franco-Provençal lavino and Italian slavina; it was borrowed into Old High German as lowin, the source of German Lawine “avalanche”.[1]

Timeline

  • after 220 AD – It appears in the Itala.[4]
  • 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it of a landslide.[2][3][7][4]
  • c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville explains it as a slippery place.[6][5][4]
  • 1352 – A letter of remission uses it for a pasture.[11]
  • 1447 – An English royal letter speaks of people endangered in waters, labinae and marshes.[10]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A slippery place.[6][1]
  2. A landslide, a fall of earth.[2][3][7][1]
  3. (Medieval Latin) An avalanche; a torrent.[9]
  4. (Medieval Latin, figurative) A downfall, catastrophe.[9]
  5. (Medieval Latin) A marsh or fen; a quicksand.[10]
  6. (Medieval Latin) A pasture.[11]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  3. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
  6. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  8. ^ Goetz, Georg (1888–1923), Corpus glossariorum Latinorum, Leipzig: Teubner; vols. VI–VII Thesaurus glossarum emendatarum, digital ed. CGLO, Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  9. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  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 c du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre