nassiterna

Forms

nassiterna f (genitive nassiternae); first declension^[1][2] It is also spelled nāsiterna, as in Cato and Varro.^[3][2] Fulgentius has the form mnasiterna, and one manuscript of Plautus has nasciterna.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.^[1][4] The OLD suggests that it may be Etruscan,^[1] and Köbler calls its origin unknown.^[4] Lewis and Short derive it from nāsus (“nose”), explaining it as a watering pot with a large nose or spout,^[5] and the TLL proposes that it was formed from that noun on the model of lanterna (“lantern”), meaning a vessel provided with a nose.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Plautus,^[4][3] where in the Stichus someone calls for a nassiterna to be brought out with water.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

It named a kind of water vessel.^[1][2] Cato and Varro list it among the equipment of a farm,^[3][2] and Festus, as abridged by Paulus, describes it as a water vessel with handles and a wide opening, of the kind used to pour water over horses.^[5][3] Elsewhere Festus calls it an earthenware vessel with two handles.^[3] Georges records a derived adjective nassiternātus, “provided with a watering pot”, quoted by Fulgentius.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a vessel for water.^[3][4]
• 234–149 BC – Cato lists it among farm equipment.^[3][4]
• 116–27 BC – Varro lists it among farm equipment.^[3][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A kind of pot for water, perhaps a watering pot.^[1][5][2]

Word family

• nassiternatus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press