mina
mina1 Greek weight and coin
Pronunciation
Forms
mina f (genitive minae); first declension[1]
Etymology
The Greek weight and coin is borrowed from Ancient Greek μνᾶ (mnâ),[2][3][1] which is ultimately of Semitic origin;[2] Köbler compares Hebrew and Babylonian-Assyrian, and Wiktionary traces it through Aramaic to Akkadian manû.[4][1]
Earliest recorded meaning
Saalfeld counts 127 instances in Plautus,[3] who speaks of twenty silver minas spent on a son.[2]
Semantic evolution
It is a Greek weight of a hundred drachmas, about a pound, as in Cato's recipe with three minas in an amphora and in Pliny the Elder.[2][5] In comedy it is above all the silver mina, a Greek unit of money worth a hundred drachmas;[2][3] Terence uses it 18 times.[2][3] A gold mina is the same value in gold, and Plautus also has the mina Philippea.[2][3] The Greek form mna is in Pliny and the Vulgate.[5][3]
Medieval writers kept it as a weight and money of account,[6][7] and in British medieval Latin it is also a measure of corn of two bushels.[6]
Timeline
- c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it often of sums of money.[2][3][4]
- 234–149 BC – Cato the Elder as a weight.[2][4]
- 390–406 AD – The Vulgate has the form mna.[3][4]
Meanings
Noun
- A Greek weight of a hundred drachmas.[2][5][1]
- A Greek unit of money, the silver mina;[2][5][1] mina auri, its value in gold.[2][5][1]
- (Medieval Latin) A measure of corn.[6]
mina2 ore, mine
Pronunciation
Forms
mīna f (genitive mīnae); first declension[1]
Etymology
The “ore, mine” is borrowed from Gaulish *mēnā (“ore, mine”), from Proto-Celtic *meinis (“ore, mine”), according to Wiktionary;[1] Köbler calls its origin unclear.[4] Niermeyer marks it as Celtic and records the form ⟨mena⟩.[8]
Earliest recorded meaning
Köbler's first source is the Bern scholia on Virgil, perhaps of the 5th century.[4]
Semantic evolution
In Late and Medieval Latin it is ore, and a mine.[1][8] Du Cange quotes a charter of the emperor Louis granting a place for digging lead ore, and a charter of Blanche, countess of Troyes, of 1226 allowing the taking of ore.[7]
Timeline
- 5th century AD? – The Bern scholia on Virgil.[4]
- 1226 – A charter of Blanche of Troyes of ore taken from a mine.[7]
Meanings
Noun
Related words
Usage notes
Lewis & Short record a separate adjective mina “smooth-bellied”, of sheep without wool on the belly, in Varro, with a pun in Plautus.[5] Niermeyer derives a medieval dry measure mina from hēmīna, and lists mina “ambush”, from minārī, and a plural minae “battlements” from a misreading of Virgil;[8][7] Du Cange explains mina “plot” from the verb minare in Fredegar.[8][7] The plural minae “threats” is a separate word.[9]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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 c d e f g h Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
- ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
- ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ a b c 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
- ^ a b c d e f g du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
- ^ a b c d e f Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
- ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften