Etymologically
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pera

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈpeː.ra][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈpɛː.ra][1]

Forms

pēra f (genitive pērae); first declension[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek πήρα (pḗra, “leather pouch, wallet”).[2][3][4][1] Glossaries also write it ⟨pira⟩ and ⟨poera⟩.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it in Paulus' epitome of Festus and in authors from Phaedrus on,[5] while Köbler lists Plautus among his sources.[4] Phaedrus begins a fable with Jupiter putting two bags on us all: peras imposuit Iuppiter nobis duas, “Jupiter has laid two bags on us”.[3][6]

Semantic evolution

It is the bag slung over the shoulder in which travellers and poor people carried their food;[2][5] Paulus ex Festo explains that the Greeks call by this name the bag in which they store food.[2][5] With the staff it was the mark of the wandering Cynic philosopher, in Martial and Apuleius.[3][5] Christian Latin knew it from the Bible: the Vulgate uses it for David's shepherd's bag and in the Gospel of Luke, and Lactantius says that the disciples had five loaves and two fishes in a bag.[3][6][5]

Medieval British writers used it for the pilgrim's scrip, a satchel for books and a money-bag, and had the proverbial mouse in a bag.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 15 BC–c. 50 AD – Phaedrus tells the fable of the two bags.[3][5][4]
  • before 66 AD – Petronius has a strap untied from a bag.[5][4]
  • 40–102/103 AD – Martial pictures a Cynic old man with staff and bag.[3][5][4]
  • 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it for the bag of David and of the disciples.[3][6][4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A bag slung over the shoulder for provisions, a satchel, wallet, scrip.[2][3][8]
  2. (Medieval Latin) A pilgrim's scrip; a book-satchel; a money-bag.[7]

Word family

  • pērātus
  • pērula
  • saccipērium
  • hippopēra

Usage notes

Pēra is also a Roman cognomen, borne by the consul Marcus Junius Pera.[1] Porphyrio and the scholia on Horace explain mantica, the traveller's bag, by pēra.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  6. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ a b 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
  8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson