paries

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈpa.ri.eːs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈpaː.ri.es]^[1]

Forms

pariēs m (genitive parietis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain.^[2][3][4] The proposed link with Old Norse sparri (“beam”) and Old High German sparro (“rafter”), from *sper- “beam, prop”, is to de Vaan a mere paper reconstruction.^[2][1] Isidore said walls were named because they always come in equal pairs.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from the Twelve Tables.^[2][6] Köbler dates them about 450 BC.^[6]

Semantic evolution

It was the wall of a house or other building, inner or outer, and by extension the side of a ship's hull or of a well.^[3] In the plural it stood for houses, as Cicero says the state is not in walls, and intrā parietēs meant in private, under one's own roof.^[3] The proverb duōs parietēs dē eādem fideliā dealbāre, “to whitewash two walls from the same pot”, meant to serve two parties at once.^[3]

Döderlein says pariēs is the wall as the side of a house, mūrus any wall.^[7] Anatomy took English paries for the wall of an organ, and parietālis gave English parietal.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 450 BC – The Twelve Tables use it.^[2][6]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus says the walls in his heart are soaked.^[3][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero says the state is not in walls.^[3][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A wall (of a house or building).^[3]
2. The side of a structure (a ship's hull, a well).^[3]
3. (plural) Houses, intrā parietēs, in private.^[3]

Word family

• parietālis
• parietārius
• parietinus

Related words

• mūrus
• moenia
• English parietal

Usage notes

Virgil scans pārietibus in four syllables, the i as a consonant.^[3][8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
8. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press