orarium

Forms

ōrārium n (genitive ōrāriī or ōrārī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ōs¹ (“mouth”) + -ārium, with the same suffix as sūdārium.^[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL records it from the Old Latin Bible (the Itala) on,^[2] which uses it for a cloth or handkerchief in the Gospel of John.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The Edict of Diocletian lists kinds of such cloths, and the Historia Augusta mentions them too, once as waved to show applause.^[2][5] Jerome names oraria among the small gifts that holy love has no need of, and Augustine and Prudentius use it for a handkerchief.^[2][4][5] Lewis and Short cite it from Lucilius, but the TLL calls that an old misreading of toracia.^[5][2]

In the Church it became the name of the stole,^[6][7][3] the sense of its Old French descendant orier.^[2] Medieval sources also use it for a neck-tie or shawl and for a kneeler.^[7]

Timeline

• after 220 AD – The Itala uses it for a cloth.^[2][4][3]
• 301 AD – The Edict of Diocletian lists kinds of oraria.^[2][3]
• 4th/5th century AD – The Historia Augusta mentions cloths waved in applause.^[5][3]
• c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome names oraria among small gifts.^[2][3]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it for a handkerchief.^[5][4][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A napkin, handkerchief, a cloth for the face.^[5][2][7]
2. A cloth waved to show applause.^[5]
3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A stole.^[6][7][3]
4. (Medieval Latin) A neckcloth or shawl.^[7]
5. (Medieval Latin) A kneeler, hassock.^[7]

Usage notes

Köbler and Du Cange record a separate medieval orarium from ōrāre “to pray”, a priest's prayer book.^[3][8]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g 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. ^ a b c d e f Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre