Etymologically
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laquear

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈɫa.kʷe.ar][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈlaː.kʷe.ar][1]

Forms

laquear n (genitive laqueāris); third declension[1] It is mostly used in the plural laqueāria; the singular laqueāre is found in the Culex, and grammarians also give laqueārium.[2][3] Manuscripts of Virgil also have the spelling lacuaria.[3]

Etymology

Its origin is unclear.[3] The TLL notes that it means the same as lacūnar (“panelled ceiling”), which is derived from lacūna (“hollow”), but that it is not clear how this word was formed; it compares the spelling ⟨lacuar-⟩, the older ⟨lacuatus⟩ in Ennius, and lacus (“hollow, basin”).[3] Lewis and Short call it related to laqueus (“noose”) and to that noun for a ceiling,[2] and Köbler refers it to the same word for a noose.[4]

Ancient grammarians disagreed: Servius derived the whole group from the word for a hollow, through the diminutive for a ceiling, while Priscian derived this one from the word for a noose; a later note on Servius insists that it comes from hollows and not from nooses.[3] Isidore of Seville took it over from Servius.[3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler and the TLL record it first in Virgil,[4][3] who in the Aeneid describes lamps hanging from gilded ceilings: dependent lychni laquearibus aureis.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The TLL notes that it belongs above all to dactylic poetry from Virgil on, and appears in prose first in Seneca, then in Pliny the Elder, Tacitus and Apuleius, in prose often less than lacūnar.[3] Pliny the Elder writes of ceilings now covered with gold even in private houses, and Seneca of carved ceilings.[2] Isidore defines laquearia as what covers and adorns a vault.[3] Stelten gives “rafter” and “panel” for Ecclesiastical Latin.[5]

Timeline

  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a gilded ceiling in the Aeneid.[2][3][4]
  • 1st century AD – The Culex has the singular.[2][3][4]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca is the first to use it in prose.[3][4]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder writes of gilded ceilings in private houses.[2][4]
  • c. 400 AD – Servius derives the word from hollows.[3][4]
  • c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville defines it.[3][4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A panelled or coffered ceiling (usually in the plural).[2][3]
  2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A rafter, a ceiling panel.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson