Etymologically
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ostiarius

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [oːs.tiˈaː.ri.ʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [os.tiˈaː.ri.us][1]

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

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