ora

Forms

ōra f (genitive ōrae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

The origin is disputed.^[1][2] The OLD takes it as a collective formed from ōs (“mouth”), as ⟨opera⟩ is from ⟨opus⟩, and compares Old English ōr;^[3] Köbler likewise traces it to Proto-Indo-European *h₃óh₁s- (“mouth, edge”).^[4] Wiktionary calls it of unknown origin and mentions Hittite erḫaš (“line, boundary”) and Latvian āra, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *h₁erh₂- (“border, line”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Ennius has omnēs avidī spectant ad carceris ōrās, “all watch eagerly the edge of the starting gate”.^[3] Köbler dates it from Ennius.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Ōra is the outside edge, border or margin of something.^[3][5][1] Ōra maritima is the sea coast, and ōra alone the coast or the bank of a river.^[3][1] It also means a region, land or district, ōrae extrēmae “the farthest shores”, and a division of the world or the sky (Ennius: aetheris ōrās, “the regions of the upper air”).^[3][1]

Church Latin glosses it “border, edge, rim, extremity”.^[6]

Timeline

• 204–169 BC – Ennius: ad carceris ōrās;^[3][4] aetheris ōrās.^[3][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses ōra maritima of the coast.^[3][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. An edge, border, margin, rim.^[3][5][1][6]
2. The coast (ōra maritima); a river bank.^[3][1]
3. A region, land;^[3][1] ōrae extrēmae: the farthest shores.^[3]
4. A region of the world or of the sky.^[3]

Word family

• ōrārius

Related words

• ōs
• ōstium

Usage notes

The OLD lists a second ōra, apparently “a hawser”, perhaps the same word;^[3] the TLL calls its origin uncertain.^[2] Medieval Latin ōra, a unit of weight, is probably a separate word from Scandinavian.^[7][4]

References

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