linteus

Forms

linteus (feminine lintea, neuter linteum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

The OLD derives it from Latin līnum (“flax, linen”) + -eus, perhaps through a false division of adjectives such as sparteus (“made of esparto”).^[2] Wiktionary notes that the short /i/ and the /t/ do not fit a derivation from līnum.^[1] De Vaan finds the adjective surprising beside līneus (“made of flax”) and takes it to point to an unattested noun ⟨*linto-⟩ “linen”; since Latin has both līnum and this ⟨*linto-⟩, and Greek and Balto-Slavic have a form with short /i/, no common Proto-Indo-European form can be set up, and the word for flax was probably a loanword.^[3]

Compare Ancient Greek λίνον (línon, “linen”) and Lithuanian lìnas (“flax”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its earliest firm record is in Cicero's speeches against Verres, where it describes linen clothing (lintea vestis).^[4]

Semantic evolution

It meant “made of linen or flax”.^[2][4] Livy speaks of a linen corselet and of the libri lintei, an old record of the Roman people written on linen and kept in the temple of Juno Moneta, which he knew through Macer;^[4] Nepos has linen breastplates.^[4] The neuter linteum, a linen cloth or sail, became a noun in its own right.^[3]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero describes linen clothing as lintea vestis.^[4][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy mentions the libri lintei and a linen corselet.^[4][5]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder writes that private records came to be written on linen.^[4][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Made of linen or flax.^[2][4]
2. libri lintei: ancient Roman records written on linen.^[4]

Word family

• linteolus
• linteum

Related words

• līnum
• līnea

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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