pergula

Forms

pergula f (genitive pergulae); first declension^[1] Quintilian cites precula as a barbarism for it.^[2]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.^[1] The OLD, Lewis and Short and Georges see it as from Latin pergō (“to go on, proceed”) + -ula, formed like tēgula from tegō,^[2][3][4] and Köbler also allows this.^[5] De Vaan notes that it could in theory be a diminutive of a noun ⟨*pergo-⟩ “pole, frame”, cognate with Lithuanian pérgas (“canoe”), Old Church Slavonic прагъ (pragŭ, “doorpost”) and Old Norse forkr (“bar, stick”), but the meanings are so different that nothing definite can be said.^[6][1] The OLD also compares Lithuanian pirkčia.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Plautus,^[5] who uses it for a brothel in the Pseudolus;^[4][7] de Vaan gives Lucilius as the first author,^[6] who uses it for a workshop.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The basic sense is a structure built out from the front of a house or a wall, open to the street.^[2][4] It served as a booth or shop, a money-changer's stall, a painter's studio, a school (Suetonius says a grammarian taught in pergulā, and Juvenal uses omnis pergula for all the pupils of a school), a brothel, and an astrologer's observatory.^[3][4][7] It could also be a poor man's hut, as opposed to a mansion: Petronius has the saying quī in pergulā nātus est, aedēs nōn somniātur, “one born in a shack does not dream of a palace”.^[7][4] In farming it was a framework for training vines, a pergola.^[2][3]

In Ecclesiastical and Medieval Latin it named a beam or arch in front of the altar, on which candles were set.^[8][9] It survives in Italian pergola.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it for a brothel.^[4][5]
• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius uses it for a workshop.^[2][6][5]
• 1st century AD – Columella uses it for a vine trellis.^[2][5]
• c. 75–150 AD – Suetonius uses it for a school and an astrologer's observatory.^[3][7][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A structure built out from the front of a house, open to the street, used as a booth, shop or workshop.^[2][3][4]
2. A school or lecture room;^[3][4] (metonymy) the pupils of a school.^[3][4]
3. A brothel.^[3][4]
4. A hut or hovel.^[3][4]
5. An observatory of an astrologer.^[7][4]
6. A framework for vines, a pergola.^[2][3]
7. (Ecclesiastical Latin, Medieval Latin) A beam or arch before the altar, carrying candles.^[8][9]

Word family

• pergulānus

Related words

• English pergola

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ a b c d e f Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
9. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill