Etymologically
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occa

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Forms

occa f (genitive occae); first declension[1]

Etymology

De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *oketā-, Proto-Indo-European *h₂oḱ-et- (“harrow”), from the root Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱ- (“sharp”).[2][1] Cognate with Welsh oged (“harrow”), Lithuanian akėčios (“harrow”), Old Prussian aketes (“harrow”) and Ancient Greek ὀξίνα (oxína, “a toothed harrow”) in Hesychius.[2] The double ⟨cc⟩ is hard to explain: Hirt assumed metathesis, *okita > *otika > *otka, while de Vaan also suggests a borrowing from an Italic dialect where *kt became kk.[2] Since the verb occō “to harrow” is attested much earlier, the TLL takes the noun as a back-formation, but de Vaan argues that a first-conjugation verb presupposes a noun.[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan finds it only in late texts and glosses.[2] Lewis and Short cite Vegetius, whom Köbler dates c. 400 AD.[4][5]

Semantic evolution

It meant a harrow, and is a post-classical word.[4][6] Glosses equate it with rāstrum “rake” and with Greek bōlokopēma “clod-breaking”.[4] In Medieval Latin it was still a harrow, an implement for breaking up the soil.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 400 AD – Vegetius uses it.[4][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A harrow.[4][6][7]
  • aceō
  • ocris
  • occō

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ 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