Etymologically
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lanceo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈɫaŋ.ke.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈlan̠ʲ.t͡ʃe.o][1]

Forms

lanceō (present infinitive lanceāre); first conjugation, no perfect or supine stems[1] Also lanciō.[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin lancea (“light spear, lance”).[3][4][1] It lives on in Italian lanciare, French lancer, Catalan llançar, Spanish lanzar and Portuguese lançar,[3] and through Old French lancier in English launch.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tertullian is the first to use it, in a passage of Against Marcion that the TLL calls obscure; the dictionaries take it as “to wield a lance”.[3][6][4]

Semantic evolution

Firmicus Maternus uses it in the sense “to pierce with a lance”, of men who will die by the lance,[3][2] and so does Augustine, of Christ, who chose to be crucified, pierced with a lance and to die.[3]

In Medieval Latin it means to handle a lance in exercise, to brandish a weapon like a lance, and to wound or pierce with a lance;[7][8] Wiktionary adds “to launch, shoot”.[1] Hungarian sources use it of charging the enemy with a lance.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian: to wield a lance.[6][9]
  • 334–337 AD – Firmicus Maternus, Mathesis: to pierce with a lance.[3][9]
  • 354–430 AD – Augustine, of the lance that pierced Christ.[3][9]
  • 1063 – A French charter: to brandish a spear.[7]
  • c. 1300 – English launch, through Old French.[5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (intransitive, Late Latin) To wield or handle a lance.[6][4][10]
  2. (transitive) To pierce or wound with a lance.[3][2][7]
  3. (Medieval Latin, transitive) To brandish (a weapon) like a lance; to launch, hurl.[7][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  5. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d Novum Glossarium Mediae Latinitatis ab anno DCCC usque ad annum MCC (1957–), Copenhagen / Geneva / Paris: Union Académique Internationale; IRHT
  8. ^ a b Bartal, Antal, et al. (1987–), Lexicon Latinitatis Medii Aevi Hungariae, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online ed. ELTE
  9. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  10. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson