palaestrita

Forms

palaestrīta m (genitive palaestrītae); first declension^[2][3] The Tironian notes have palaestrītēs,^[4][5] and Ammianus palestrīta.^[5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek παλαιστρίτης (palaistrítēs, “one who trains in the palaestra”),^[2][1][6] from παλαίστρα (palaístra, “wrestling school”), from παλαίω (palaíō, “to wrestle”), whose further origin Köbler, following Frisk, calls unclear.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero has it first,^[6] in the Verrines, of the directors of wrestling schools.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

It is a teacher of wrestling or the manager of a wrestling school, as in Cicero, and Martial has a slippery palaestrīta.^[2][3] Ammianus uses it of skilled wrestlers, artificēs palaestrītae.^[3][4]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero, of masters of wrestling schools.^[3][6]
• 40–102/103 AD – Martial, of a slippery wrestling master.^[3][6]
• c. 390 AD – Ammianus, of skilled wrestlers.^[3][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A teacher of wrestling, the manager of a palaestra.^[2][3][1]
2. A wrestler.^[3][4][1]

Related words

• palaestēs
• palaestra
• palaestrica
• palaestricē
• palaestricōs
• palaestricus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de