lorica

Forms

lōrīca f (genitive lōrīcae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

Its origin is disputed; the OLD calls it doubtful.^[2] It is often derived from lōrum (“leather strap, thong”), as Varro already did, explaining that breastplates were made of raw hide;^[2][3] Walde–Hofmann keep this view because the cuirass was originally of leather.^[4] A loan from Ancient Greek θώραξ (thṓrax, “breastplate”) has also been proposed, or a borrowing of both words from an unknown Mediterranean language.^[4] The TLL suggests a foreign origin if Varro's explanation is rejected.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Plautus,^[5] who has a soldier calling for his arms and his cuirass.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is a corselet or cuirass of leather, metal or other material, as Cicero's man who walks about in a cuirass and Virgil's mail of interlinked hooks and gold;^[2][6] Lewis and Short contrast it, as a leather cuirass, with the bronze thōrāx.^[2][6] In Horace it stands for military service, of a man who exchanges his books for Spanish cuirasses.^[2] Pliny the Elder calls a snail's shell a cuirass.^[2] By transfer it is a parapet or breastwork, a protective coating of plaster in Vitruvius, and an overhanging ledge or cornice.^[2]

Church Latin glosses it “breastplate”.^[7] In medieval Latin it is also a knight in mail, and feudum lōrīcae a knight's fee owing the service of a knight.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a soldier's cuirass.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of a man walking about in a cuirass.^[2][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil of a coat of mail.^[2][5]
• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius of a coating of plaster.^[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A cuirass, corselet, breastplate; a coat of mail.^[2][6][1][7]
2. A parapet, breastwork.^[2]
3. A protective coating; a ledge or cornice.^[2]
4. (Medieval Latin) A knight in mail;^[8] feudum lōrīcae, a knight's fee.^[8]

Word family

• loricarius
• lōrīcō
• lōrīcula

Related words

• lōrum
• thōrāx

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill