Etymologically
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mappa

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈmap.pa][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈmap.pa][1]

Forms

mappa f (genitive mappae); first declension[1]

Etymology

Quintilian says it is a Punic word.[2][3] It is perhaps borrowed from Phoenician 𐤌𐤀𐤐 (mʾp), from Proto-Semitic *manpay (“fine cloth, sieve”).[1][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Gaffiot cites Cato first.[5] Köbler dates Cato 234–149 BC.[4]

Semantic evolution

It was a piece of cloth used as a towel, especially a table napkin, as in Horace and Martial.[2][6] In the circus a cloth was thrown down as the signal for the start of a race, and Quintilian notes that the Carthaginians claimed this word too.[6][3]

In medieval Latin it meant a map, from mappa mundī, a map of the world, and in British Latin a cloth, tablecloth or towel.[7][8][4] Middle English mapemounde was shortened to English map in the 1520s.[9] Old French nape “tablecloth”, from mappa, gave English napkin.[9]

Timeline

  • 234–149 BC – Cato uses the word.[5][4]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of a napkin.[6][4]
  • c. 35–95 AD – Quintilian calls it a Punic word.[2][4]
  • late 14th century – English napkin is recorded.[9]
  • 1520s – English map is recorded.[9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A napkin, towel.[2]
  2. A cloth thrown down as the starting signal in the circus.[6][1]
  3. (Medieval Latin) A map.[7][1]
  4. (Medieval Latin) A tablecloth.[8]

Word family

  • mappula

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d 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 c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  6. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  8. ^ a b 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
  9. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com