manuarius

Forms

manuārius (feminine manuāria, neuter manuārium); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin manus (“hand”) + -ārius.^[2][1] The noun “thief” is formed from the adjective.^[2]

Etymonline traces Old French maniere and English manner to *manaria, from the feminine of this adjective;^[3] Köbler likewise gives a Gallo-Roman ⟨manuaria⟩ “way, kind” behind the Old French word.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest use is the noun “thief” in Laberius, whose line Gellius quotes.^[5][6][4]

Semantic evolution

As an adjective it means “belonging to or worked by the hand”: Suetonius and Javolenus speak of hand mills (molae manuāriae),^[7][2] and an ancient book of word distinctions (Differentiae) defines it as what is touched or held by the hand.^[7] Gellius calls the money won at dice aes manuārium.^[2][8]

Medieval and Neo-Latin writers use it for work done by hand, as in manual labour and the manual arts;^[9][10] Köbler records a medieval noun “service”.^[4]

Timeline

• 106–43 BC – Laberius: manuārius “thief”.^[5][4]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius: hand mills.^[7][4]
• c. 165 AD – Gellius: money won at dice.^[2][4]
• c. 1200 – English manner, through Old French, from a Vulgar Latin derivative.^[3]
• 1531 – A British document: crafts done by hand.^[9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or for the hand; worked by hand: mola manuāria “hand mill”.^[2][8]
2. (of money) Made up of stakes in gaming, won at dice.^[2][6]
3. (Medieval Latin, New Latin) Done by hand, manual.^[9][10]

Noun

1. A thief.^[2][5][11]

Word family

• manuārium

Related words

• manus
• manuālis
• English manner

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c 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
10. ^ a b Ramminger, Johann, Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700, www.neulatein.de
11. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier