lagoena

Forms

lagoena f (genitive lagoenae); first declension^[1] The OLD files it under lagōna and also gives lagēna, lagoena and lagūna.^[2] Lewis & Short have it under lagēna, with lagaena, lagoena and lagōna.^[3] The TLL finds lagōna in inscriptions and the oldest manuscripts, lagūna in inscriptions, and lagoena in the manuscripts of the Old Latin Bible.^[4] Georges records the popular inscriptional forms laguēna and laguīna.^[5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek λάγυνος (lágunos, “flask”),^[1][2][6][7] adapted to the Latin first declension;^[2] Köbler calls the further origin of the Greek word unknown.^[7] Isidore of Seville noted that it is a Greek name partly altered to become Latin.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found first in Plautus,^[7][4] who has quasi tu lagoenam dīcās, ubi vīnum Chium solet esse, “as if you meant a flask, where Chian wine usually is”.^[3][8]

Semantic evolution

It is a vessel with a narrow neck, a wide belly and handles, usually of earthenware but also of glass or wickerwork, used above all for wine, which was pitched, stoppered and sealed in it.^[5][2] Cicero writes of empty flasks,^[5] Horace mentions it in the Satires,^[8][3] Columella of a well-pitched flask, and Martial of a Syrian flask of glass.^[5][3] The phrase ā lagōnā named the slave in charge of the wine, the cellarer.^[2] The word passed into Old High German lāgella (“small cask, a measure”), the source of German Lägel.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus mentions a flask of Chian wine.^[3][7]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it in his letters.^[3][5]
• 65–8 BC – Horace mentions it in the Satires.^[8][3]
• c. 15 BC–c. 50 AD – Phaedrus has plēna lagoena.^[5][8]
• 1st century AD – Columella writes of a well-pitched flask.^[5]
• 40–102/103 AD – Martial mentions a flask of glass.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A narrow-necked flask or bottle, a flagon, especially for wine; a bottle of wine.^[2][3][5]
2. ā lagōnā: the slave in charge of the wine, a cellarer.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
7. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier