mastigia

Forms

mastīgia m (genitive mastīgiae); first declension^[1] Lucilius has the Greek form mastīgiās.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek μαστιγίας (mastigías, “one who deserves a whipping”),^[2][4][1][5] from μάστιξ (mástix, “whip”).^[1][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It appears first in Plautus, who uses it in many plays,^[5][4] for instance in the Captivi and the Mostellaria.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It is a term of abuse, a person who deserves a whipping, a scoundrel or rogue,^[2][3] and belongs to early Latin comedy: besides Plautus it is found in Terence's Adelphoe (non manum abstines, mastigia?, “keep your hands off, you rogue!”) and in Lucilius, who has the Greek form mastigias.^[4][3] The TLL notes that it always stands at the end of the verse, as in Greek comedy, and the glossaries explain it as a bad or worthless slave.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it as a term of abuse.^[4][5]
• 190–159 BC – Terence uses it in the Adelphoe.^[4][5]
• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius uses the form mastigias.^[3][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (derogatory) A person who deserves a whipping; a scoundrel, rascal, rogue.^[2][4]

Usage notes

Late Latin also has a feminine mastigia, “whip, scourge”, in Sulpicius Severus,^[4][3] which the TLL treats as a separate word, compared with Greek forms for “whip”;^[6] Niermeyer gives medieval senses whip, belt and strap.^[7] Wiktionary compares the native verberō² (“scoundrel”), from verber “whip”.^[1]

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 c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill