mantica

Forms

mantica f (genitive manticae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

The source is uncertain:^[2][3] it may be from Latin manus (“hand”), a bag for the hand, as Lewis & Short and Wiktionary have it;^[3][1] the OLD and Köbler compare it instead with mantellum (“cloak”).^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Lucilius, as a travelling bag or knapsack.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

It was the bag a traveller on foot slung over the shoulder, one part hanging in front and one behind, or the bag a rider fastened behind him on the horse.^[6][2] Horace speaks of a mule whose loins are galled by its mantica.^[3]

It became proverbial through the fable of the two bags, told by Phaedrus, which explains how people see the faults of others but not their own.^[2] Catullus writes non videmus manticae quod in tergo est, “we do not see what is in the part of the bag on our back”, and Persius uses the same image.^[3][5] Glossaries render it with Ancient Greek πήρα (pḗra).^[7]

Timeline

• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius uses it of a travelling bag.^[4][5]
• 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus uses the proverb of the bag on one's back.^[3][5]
• 65–8 BC – Horace writes of a mule galled by its bag.^[3]
• c. 15 BC–c. 50 AD – Phaedrus tells the fable of the two bags.^[2]
• 34–62 AD – Persius uses the image of the bag on the back.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A travelling bag, knapsack or saddlebag.^[2][3][6]

Word family

• manticula
• manticulārius
• manticulātor
• manticulor

Usage notes

The proverb non videmus manticae quod in tergo est (Catullus) means that we do not know our own faults.^[3][5] Köbler lists a separate medieval mantica “divination”, from manticē.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ Goetz, Georg (1888–1923), Corpus glossariorum Latinorum, Leipzig: Teubner; vols. VI–VII Thesaurus glossarum emendatarum, digital ed. CGLO, Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften