Etymologically
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linter

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈlɪn.tɛr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈlin.ter][1]

Forms

linter f or m (genitive lintris); third declension[1] An older form lunter also occurs.[2][3] Sidonius has a nominative lintris.[4] It is masculine in Tibullus and Velleius.[2]

Etymology

The origin is unknown.[2][5] Wiktionary takes the form ⟨lunter⟩ to be the older one, and compares Ancient Greek λιντήρ (lintḗr).[1] The traditional derivation is from Proto-Indo-European *plew- (“to wash”), beside πλυντήρ (pluntḗr), but the loss of the ⟨p⟩ is unexplained.[1][4] The TLL rejects a comparison of ⟨lunter⟩ with an Old Norse word on the grounds of the sounds.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Livius Andronicus.[5] Cato uses it of a trough or vat for wine.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

It is a trough, vat or tub, and a small light boat or skiff;[2][4] Virgil has them hollowed from a tree.[2][4] Cicero has timber carried to an island in such boats.[2][4] Döderlein counts it, with scapha and cymba, among small boats for short distances and crossings.[6] A proverb, to speak from a boat, was said of an orator who swayed his body from side to side;[4] Quintilian reports that Julius mocked the elder Curio for it.[4] Ovid and Tibullus use the boat in figures for turning to another subject and for a favourable chance.[4] Bücheler tried to show that the spelling lun-, which the Romance languages continue, is the older one.[3]

Timeline

  • 280/260–before 200 BC – Livius Andronicus.[5]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato of a trough for wine.[2][4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of small boats.[2][4]
  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian reports the proverb of speaking from a boat.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A small light boat, skiff.[2][4][1]
  2. A trough, vat, tank, tub.[2][4][1]

Word family

  • lintrārius
  • lintriculus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c 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 i j k l m n Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper