matrona
Pronunciation
Forms
mātrōna f (genitive mātrōnae); first declension[1]
Etymology
It is formed from māter (“mother”) with the suffix ⟨-ōna⟩, on the model of patrōnus (“patron”).[2][3][1] De Vaan derives ⟨māter⟩ from Proto-Italic *mātēr and Proto-Indo-European *méh₂-tr- (“mother”), perhaps in origin a derivative of the nursery word ⟨*ma(ma)⟩.[4] Cognate with Oscan maatreís (“of the mother”), Ancient Greek μήτηρ (mḗtēr, “mother”) and Sanskrit मातृ (mātár-, “mother”).[4] Isidore of Seville also explains its origin.[3]
Earliest recorded meaning
Köbler gives Ennius as its first author,[5] who has mātrōnae moerōs complent, “the matrons crowd the walls”.[2]
Semantic evolution
It is a married woman or matron, whether or not she was under her husband's legal power, so that it is wider than māter familiās, which always was.[2][6] It is a title of Juno, and in the plural inscriptions use it of a group of Celtic goddesses.[2][1] Fronto applies it familiarly to a young girl of rank, Marcus Aurelius' daughter, and Horace uses it simply for a wife, the wife of a warring tyrant.[2]
Church Latin glosses it “matron, woman of quality”.[7] Through Old French it gave English matron in the late 14th century.[8]
Timeline
- 204–169 BC – Ennius of matrons on the walls.[2][5]
- 65–8 BC – Horace in the sense “wife”.[2][5]
- 100–170 AD – Fronto of a young girl.[2][5]
- late 14th century – English matron, through Old French.[8]
Meanings
Noun
- A married woman, matron, woman of standing.[2][6][1][7]
- A title of Juno;[2][1] (plural) a group of Celtic goddesses.[2]
- A wife.[2][1]
Word family
- mātrōnālis
- mātrōnātus
- mātrōnula
Related words
- māter
- māterfamiliās
- māternus
- mātertera
- patrōnus
- mātrimōnium
- English matron
Usage notes
Matrona is also the Latin name of the river Marne, in Caesar and Ammianus,[6] which Wiktionary and Köbler derive from a Gaulish river-goddess name formed on the Celtic word for mother.[1][5]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
- ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
- ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
- ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
- ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com