pastio

Forms

pāstiō f (genitive pāstiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin pāscō (“to pasture, feed”) + -tiō.^[2][3][1] The verb goes back to Proto-Italic *pā̆ske/o- and Proto-Indo-European *peh₂-s- (“to protect, herd”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero uses it in his speech on the command of Pompey (66 BC), where Asia surpasses all lands in the extent of its pasturage.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

Varro distinguishes kinds of pastiones, the feeding of animals at the farmstead and in the open, in his work on farming,^[2][5] and Columella speaks of pastiones villaticae.^[5] The TLL notes that it is rare in prose apart from Varro.^[4]

In Medieval Latin it meant pannage, the feeding of pigs on acorns in a wood, and also the acorns themselves, the right to pannage and the due paid for it, with spellings such as pascio and paisso.^[6][7] It survives in French paisson, Occitan paisson and Italian pasciona.^[1]

Timeline

• 66 BC – Cicero speaks of the pasturage of Asia.^[4][2]
• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it for kinds of animal husbandry in his work on farming.^[2][8]
• 1st century AD – Columella speaks of pastiones villaticae.^[5][8]

Meanings

Noun

1. The pasturing or feeding of animals; a way of doing this.^[2][5]
2. A feeding ground, pasture.^[2][5]
3. (Medieval Latin) Pannage, the feeding of pigs on acorns; the acorns; the right to pannage, and the due paid for it.^[6][7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ a b du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
8. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de