maialis

Forms

maiālis m (genitive maiālis); third declension^[1] Lewis & Short spell it mājālis,^[2] Niermeyer majalis, with a neuter majale.^[3] The glosses also have magalis.^[4]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.^[5] The OLD's tentative analysis is from Latin Māia + -ālis, a victim offered to the goddess Maia,^[6][1] which was already the ancient explanation: Varro and others derived it from Maia,^[5][4] and glosses explain it as a fat pig, so called because such pigs were sacrificed to Maia, one adding “as the mother of Mercury”.^[7] De Vaan grants that this would fit the form but finds it suspect, perhaps only a popular etymology.^[5] Schrijver's alternative, a preform with /sd/ before /i/, connects it with Old Irish mát (“pig”) (also máta), but de Vaan notes that the formation remains unclear and that it is uncertain whether /sdi/ would really give Latin /i/.^[5] Niermeyer derives it instead from the month name Maius (“May”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first author to use it is Titinius,^[5][8] in a joke on its meaning “gelded”: a character begs for help so as not to become a maialis.^[6][2]

Semantic evolution

The plain sense is a castrated boar or barrow pig: Varro explains that boars gelded as yearlings change their name and are called maiales.^[6][2][4] Festus contrasts it with verres, the uncastrated boar,^[4] and Pomponius gave the title to an Atellan farce.^[4] Cicero uses it as a term of abuse for a man, a “hog”.^[6][2]

The Lex Salica fixes a fine for stealing a votive barrow,^[4] and medieval Latin kept the sense “gelded hog”.^[3] It survives as Italian maiale and Occitan maial.^[4][1]

Timeline

• end of 2nd/beginning of 1st century BC – Titinius uses it of a man who fears being unmanned.^[6][2][8]
• 116–27 BC – Varro explains it as the name of a boar gelded as a yearling.^[6][2][8]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it as a term of abuse.^[6][2][8]
• 2nd half of 2nd century AD – Festus contrasts it with the boar, verres.^[4][8]
• 507–511? – The Lex Salica punishes the theft of a votive barrow.^[4][8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A gelded boar, a barrow pig.^[6][2]
2. (figurative) An unmanned man.^[2]
3. (term of abuse) A swine, hog.^[6][2][1]

Related words

• Maia

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d e 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 e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Goetz, Georg (1888–1923), Corpus glossariorum Latinorum, Leipzig: Teubner; vols. VI–VII Thesaurus glossarum emendatarum, digital ed. CGLO, Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de