Etymologically
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mechanicus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [meːˈkʰa.nɪ.kʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [meˈkaː.ni.kus][1]

Forms

mēchanicus (feminine mēchanica, neuter mēchanicum); first/second-declension adjective[1][2] As a noun, mēchanicus, genitive mēchanicī, masculine, second declension.[2][1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek μηχανικός (mēkhanikós),[2][1][3] from μηχανή (mēkhanḗ, “device, machine”).[3][4] Wiktionary notes that it can also be analysed as māchina with -icus.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The noun is first found in Lucilius, apparently for an acrobat who performs on gymnastic apparatus.[2][5][3]

Semantic evolution

As a noun it meant an engineer: Columella cites the name engineers give to a siphon, and Suetonius tells of a mēchanicus who promised to bring great columns up to the Capitol at small cost.[2] As an adjective it meant concerned with machines or engineering, mechanical, mostly in post-Augustan Latin: Gellius has disciplīna mēchanica and Firmicus Maternus ars mēchanica.[2][5] Isidore of Seville defines mēchanica as a skill or knowledge in which the making of all things comes together.[6]

Ecclesiastical Latin kept the sense “mechanical”,[7] while in Medieval Latin the noun could also mean a sorcerer.[8] English borrowed the adjective in the late 14th century as mechanic, and the noun in the 1560s.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius uses the noun, apparently for an acrobat.[2][3]
  • 1st century AD – Columella uses it for engineers.[2][3]
  • c. 165 AD – Gellius uses the adjective of a branch of learning.[5][3]
  • 343/350 AD – Firmicus Maternus speaks of ars mēchanica.[5][3]
  • late 14th century – Borrowed into English as mechanic.[4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of machines or engineering, mechanical.[2][5][7]

Noun

  1. An engineer.[2]
  2. An acrobat performing with apparatus.[2]
  3. (Medieval Latin) A sorcerer.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill