manica

Forms

manica f (genitive manicae); first declension^[1] Mostly in the plural, manicae.^[2][3] Jerome has the late spelling manicha.^[4]

Etymology

It is from Latin manus (“hand”) + -icus,^[2][1] the feminine of an adjective used as a noun, like pedica (“fetter”).^[1][5] De Vaan counts it among the regular derivatives of the stem *manu- “hand”.^[6] Varro already derived it from ⟨manus⟩.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan's first author is Plautus,^[6] who uses the plural for handcuffs: in the Asinaria hands are held fast by manicae.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The first meaning was handcuffs, manacles,^[2] and Lucilius uses it figuratively of a mind caught laqueīs, manicīs, pedicīs, “in snares, manacles and fetters”.^[2] Lucan has it of grappling irons for seizing ships.^[2][3] It also named coverings for the hands and forearms: the long sleeves of a tunic reaching over the hand,^[2][4] which, in Tacitus' Germania, the women there do not wear, leaving their arms bare;^[2] a piece of armour for the sword arm;^[2] and a band or perhaps a fingerless glove against cold and scratches, as in Columella and Pliny the Younger.^[2][3] Isidore of Seville notes both senses, bonds for catching the hands and the sleeves of tunics.^[5]

In Medieval Latin it also meant the hilt of a weapon, an armlet or bracelet, and the aisle or transept of a church.^[7] English manacle comes, through Old French, from the diminutive manicula.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it for handcuffs.^[2][9]
• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius uses it figuratively.^[2][9]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it for the long sleeves of a tunic.^[2][9]
• 39–65 AD – Lucan uses it for grappling irons.^[2][9]
• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville defines it as bonds for the hands.^[5][9]

Meanings

Noun

1. (usually plural) Handcuffs, manacles.^[2][3]
2. (nautical) Grappling irons.^[2][3]
3. A long sleeve reaching over the hand.^[2][4][3]
4. A piece of armour protecting the sword arm.^[2]
5. A protective band for the hand, perhaps a fingerless glove.^[2][3]
6. (Medieval Latin) The hilt of a weapon.^[7]
7. (Medieval Latin) An armlet, bracelet.^[7]
8. (Medieval Latin) An aisle or transept.^[7]

Word family

• manicārius
• manicātus

Related words

• manuleātus
• manulea
• manuleus
• manicula
• pedica
• English manacle

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes the words for bonds: vincula are bonds of any kind, catēnae chains, compedēs fetters for hands or feet, pedicae irons for the feet and manicae irons for the hands.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
4. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c d Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
10. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper