metrum

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈmɛ.trũː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈmɛː.trum]^[1]

Forms

metrum n (genitive metrī); second declension^[1] Also metron.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek μέτρον (métron, “measure”), from Proto-Indo-European *meh₁- (“to measure”).^[2][1][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation for metre is from Vitruvius.^[2] Köbler dates Vitruvius c. 84–c. 25 BC.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It was poetic rhythm, metre, as in Vitruvius and Quintilian, and a line of verse, as in Columella; an inscription uses it of official measuring vessels.^[2][5] Lewis & Short call the sense “verse” post-Augustan.^[6] Isidore says metrum is a measure of liquids, from the Greek for measure.^[7]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it was verse, metre, measure.^[8] British Medieval Latin used it for an instrument for measuring and for a measure, a standard.^[9] Old English borrowed it as meter, the source of English meter, English metre in verse; the unit of length (1797) came through French mètre.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it.^[2][3]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it of metre.^[5][3]
• 1797 – English metre, the unit, is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. Metre, poetic rhythm; a line of verse.^[2][5]
2. A measure; a measuring vessel.^[2][9]

Related words

• mētior
• mēnsūra
• English meter
• English metre

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d 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 Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
9. ^ a b 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