Etymologically
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loreus

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Forms

lōreus (feminine lōrea, neuter lōreum); first/second-declension adjective[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin lōrum (“thong, strap”) + -eus.[1][3][4] De Vaan compares lōrum with Ancient Greek εὔληρα (eúlēra, “reins”) and Doric αὔληρα (aúlēra); since Beekes suspects a Pre-Greek origin for the Greek words while the vowel alternation looks Indo-European, he suggests a loan, perhaps from an extinct Indo-European language.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus,[5][6] whose Miles gloriosus has a master threaten his slaves that he will make their flanks into thongs, that is, cut their hide into strips.[7][4][2]

Semantic evolution

Its plain sense is made of thongs or leather straps.[1][7] Cato's farm manual uses it of ropes made of thongs, and Pliny the Elder of bands.[7][8] The TLL calls Plautus' use a bold joke, and compares his phrase about slaves who will become ulmeī, “made of elm”.[4]

British medieval glossaries used it of the light leather shield of the Africans and Spaniards, following Isidore.[9]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus jokes about flanks cut into thongs.[4][6]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of ropes made of thongs.[7][6]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of bands.[8][6]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Made of thongs or leather straps.[1][7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  3. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  4. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  9. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press