pellitus

Forms

pellītus (feminine pellīta, neuter pellītum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin pellis (“skin, hide”) + -ītus,^[2][1][3] a derivation already explained by the grammarian Priscian.^[3] De Vaan traces pellis to Proto-Italic *pelni- and Proto-Indo-European *pel-ni- (“skin, hide”), from a root that may have meant “to strip, skin”.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it from Cicero, Varro and Horace on,^[3] and de Vaan from Varro;^[4] Köbler lists it from Cato.^[5] Cicero uses it of the witnesses from Sardinia, where skins served as clothing.^[6]

Semantic evolution

It meant clad in skins, often with a note of contempt:^[3] Livy speaks of skin-clad Sardinians and Propertius of the skin-clad senators of early Rome.^[6][7] Varro and Horace use it of sheep covered with skins to protect their fine wool.^[6][7]

Prudentius has garments of skin,^[6] and Macrobius applies it to webbed wings.^[7] In British medieval Latin it described cloth trimmed or lined with fur.^[8]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of skin-clad witnesses from Sardinia.^[6][5]
• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of sheep covered with skins.^[6][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy speaks of skin-clad Sardinians.^[6][5]
• 57/46–12 BC – Propertius uses it of the senators of early Rome.^[6][7][5]
• 348/49–c. 413 AD – Prudentius uses it of garments of skin.^[6][5]
• 1st half of the 5th century AD – Macrobius uses it of webbed wings.^[7][5]
• 1553 – A British record uses it of camlet lined with fur.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Clothed or covered with skins or furs.^[2][6]
2. Of sheep: covered with a skin to protect the fleece.^[6][7]
3. (Late Latin) Webbed.^[7]
4. (Medieval Latin) Trimmed or lined with fur.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b c Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press