margarita

Forms

margarīta f (genitive margarītae); first declension^[1] Also neuter margarītum, rare and not in Cicero.^[2] The OLD enters only the feminine.^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek μαργαρίτης (margarítēs, “pearl”), with λίθος (líthos, “stone”) understood.^[3][4][2][5] Köbler calls the Greek word an oriental loanword.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Varro has it, and Cicero, in the speeches against Verres, says that there was no gem or pearl that he did not take.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

It is the pearl.^[3] Cicero speaks of an ornament of pearls, the Digest of a string of pearls, and Pliny the Elder of British pearls.^[2] Tacitus says that the Ocean produces pearls, using the neuter.^[2] As a term of endearment Augustus called Maecenas his “pearl of the Tiber”, and Petronius has it too.^[2] The Vulgate's Gospel of Matthew has the one pearl of great price and the saying ne mittatis margaritas vestras ante porcos, “do not cast your pearls before swine”.^[2] British medieval writers took up both images, Gildas and Aldhelm of pearls trampled by swine and Alcuin of the pearl bought by selling everything; they also used it for something precious, for Christ and for saints.^[7] As a woman's name, Late Latin Margarīta gave English Margaret through Old French.^[5]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro has the word.^[2][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero, of stolen pearls in the speeches against Verres.^[2][6]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus, of pearls of the Ocean.^[2][6]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate, “pearls before swine”.^[2][6]
• c. 1300 – English Margaret, from the Late Latin name through Old French.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A pearl.^[3][2][1][8]
2. A term of endearment, “pearl, treasure”.^[2][1]
3. (Medieval Latin) Something precious;^[7] Christ; a saint or a saint's relics.^[7]

Word family

• margarītārius
• margarītātus
• margarīticandicans
• margarītifer
• margarītum

Related words

• margarītion
• gemma
• unio
• English Margaret

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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ 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
8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson