Etymologically
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pelta

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈpɛɫ.ta][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈpɛl.ta][1]

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

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