Etymologically
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phiala

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Forms

phiala f (genitive phialae); first declension[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek φιάλη (phiálē, “broad flat bowl”).[2][1][3] Köbler and Etymonline describe the Greek word as a technical loanword of unknown origin.[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the 1st century AD, in Petronius and Pliny the Elder,[5][3] for a broad, shallow bowl for drinking or pouring, the same as the Latin patera.[2][6]

Semantic evolution

In classical Latin it is a broad, flat drinking bowl or saucer, used by Juvenal and Martial;[6][2] Pliny the Elder also says that a place in the Nile at Memphis is called Phiala from its shape.[2] The TLL notes that it occurs in Petronius and Pliny, often in the Bible and in Christian writers, and in verse in Martial and Juvenal.[7] In the Vulgate it is a censer,[6][5] and Ecclesiastical Latin also used it of a small flask or vial.[8]

From a learned form fiola come French fiole and Old Provençal fiola;[7] Medieval Latin phiola and Old French fiole gave English phial and its variant vial in the late 14th century.[4] Italian has fiala.[5]

Timeline

  • before 66 AD – Petronius uses it of a bowl.[5][3]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of bowls and of a place in the Nile named after its shape.[2][3]
  • 40–102/103 AD – Martial uses it of drinking bowls.[6][3]
  • 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it of a censer.[6][5][3]
  • late 14th century – English borrows it through Medieval Latin and Old French as phial.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A broad, shallow bowl for drinking or pouring, a saucer.[2][6]
  2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A censer.[6][5][8]
  3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A small flask, vial.[8]
  • patera
  • English phial
  • English vial

Usage notes

In Ovid Phiala (or Phialē) is the name of a nymph attending Diana.[6]

References

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