ostiarius

Forms

ōstiārius m (genitive ōstiāriī or ōstiārī); second declension^[1] Inscriptions also have ustiārius.^[2] The feminine ōstiāria is a female doorkeeper.^[3]

Etymology

It is from Latin ōstium (“door”) + -ārius.^[4][1][2] De Vaan derives ōstium from an adjective ⟨*ōs-to-⟩ “having a mouth”, from ōs¹ (“mouth”),^[5] which he traces to Proto-Italic *ōs- and Proto-Indo-European *h₃eh₁-os (“mouth”).^[5] Cognate with Sanskrit आस् (ā́s-, “mouth”) and Old Irish á (“mouth”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Varro,^[5][6] who uses it of a doorkeeper in his work on farming.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It is a janitor or porter,^[4] in Varro, Pliny the Elder and the Vulgate;^[3] Suetonius records that in early times the rich sometimes kept their doorkeepers chained.^[3] As an adjective it means belonging to a door, as in the Vulgate's ancilla ōstiāria, the portress in John.^[3] The Theodosian Code uses it in the Church for a sexton,^[3] and in medieval Latin the doorkeeper is the lowest of the minor orders; it is also a household officer and an usher or court official.^[7] The neuter ōstiārium is a door tax.^[3] English usher comes through Old French from a Vulgar Latin variant *ustiārius.^[8]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro, of a doorkeeper.^[3][5][6]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius, of doorkeepers kept in chains.^[3][6]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate, of a portress.^[3][6]
• 438 AD – The Theodosian Code, of a church doorkeeper.^[3][6]
• Medieval Latin – The lowest of the minor orders; an usher at court.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A doorkeeper, janitor, porter.^[4][3][1]
2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A church doorkeeper, sexton;^[3] the lowest of the minor orders.^[7]
3. (Medieval Latin) A household officer;^[7] an usher, a court official.^[7]

Adjective

1. Of or belonging to a door.^[3][1][9]

Word family

• ostiārium

Related words

• ōstium
• iānitor

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c d e Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson