pelta

Forms

pelta f (genitive peltae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek πέλτη (péltē, “light shield”).^[2][3][1][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it first in Nepos,^[4] who uses it in his life of Iphicrates for a small light shield shaped like a half-moon.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

Lewis and Short describe it as a shield first used by the Thracians and other foreign peoples.^[7] Livy uses it, and in Virgil and Ovid it is the shield of the Amazons.^[6][7] Servius explains it as a very short shield in the shape of a half-moon, and Nonius calls peltae the shields of the Amazons.^[8] The Vulgate has it in Chronicles.^[7]

Medieval writers in Britain use it for a light shield or buckler, from Gildas and Aldhelm on, and describe it as crescent-shaped, round, leaf-shaped, waisted or square.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 100–24 BC – Nepos uses it in his life of Iphicrates.^[5][6][4]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil gives it to the Amazons.^[6][4]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it.^[7][5][4]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it in Chronicles.^[7][4]
• c. 510–570 AD – Gildas uses it for the shields of armed bands.^[9][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small, light shield, often shaped like a half-moon, of Thracian origin; the shield of the Amazons.^[2][7][6]
2. (Medieval Latin) A light shield or buckler of various shapes.^[9]

Word family

• peltātus
• peltifer

Related words

• scūtum
• clipeus
• parma
• caetra

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes the shields: the scutum was a large shield covering the whole body, the clipeus and parma smaller round ones, the pelta a small half-moon shield, and the caetra a small leather one.^[10]

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. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
4. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
9. ^ 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
10. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper