matronalis

Forms

mātrōnālis (neuter mātrōnāle, adverb mātrōnāliter); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin mātrōna (“married woman, matron”) + -ālis;^[2][1] ⟨mātrōna⟩ is from māter (“mother”).^[1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and the TLL date it from Laberius, whose mime speaks of matronly modesty.^[3][4][5]

Semantic evolution

It is what belongs to or befits a married woman, and Lewis & Short note that Cicero does not use it.^[6][2] Livy speaks of women forgetting matronly honour, Pliny the Younger of a girl's matronly dignity, and Suetonius of matronly rank;^[6] in the jurists the habitus mātrōnālis is the stola.^[6]

Timeline

• 106–43 BC – Laberius uses it in a mime.^[4][5]
• 59 BC–AD 17 – Livy writes of decus mātrōnāle, a matron's honour.^[6][5]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it of matronly rank.^[6][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of, belonging to or befitting a married woman; matronly.^[2][6]

Related words

• stola

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press