picarium

Forms

picarium n (genitive picariī); second declension^[1] Also masculine picarius and feminine picaria, with the spellings piccarius and pycarius.^[1] Du Cange records picherius in the same sense in a charter of 1261.^[2]

Etymology

It is a form from Medieval Latin bicarium (“drinking vessel, cup”), as Köbler and Du Cange have it.^[3][2] Etymonline likewise takes the Medieval Latin forms with /p/ as altered from that word, which it derives, probably, from Ancient Greek βῖκος (bîkos, “earthen vessel”).^[4] Beekes defines the Greek word as a vase with handles, also used as a measure, and calls its origin uncertain, with Egyptian and Semitic sources proposed.^[5]

The DMLBS files picarium under pichera (“jug, pitcher”), which it takes from Middle English picher and Anglo-Norman picher.^[6] Du Cange reports older guesses that linked the word with Bacchus or with German Becher.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is a medieval word.^[3] The DMLBS cites a silver picarium from Adam of Domerham,^[6] and Du Cange quotes a necrology of the Dominican friars of Mainz that lists ten silver picaria valued at eighty florins.^[2] The earliest dated example in these sources is from Kraków in 1392, where a silver-plated picarium is to be returned.^[1]

Semantic evolution

Du Cange glosses it as a vessel, cup or ladle, or a measure of drink, and gives the French equivalent pichier.^[2] The Polish dictionary of medieval Latin gives a drinking vessel, cup or chalice, and records for picarius also the sense of a treasury or money box.^[1]

English pitcher, from about 1200, comes partly from Old French pichier, partly from the Medieval Latin forms picarius and picherius.^[4]

Timeline

• 1392 – A Kraków record speaks of a silver-plated picarium that must be returned.^[1]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Medieval Latin) A drinking vessel, a cup or chalice.^[2][1]
2. (Medieval Latin) A jug or pitcher.^[6]
3. (Medieval Latin) A measure of drink.^[2]
4. (Medieval Latin, as picarius) A treasury or money box.^[1]

Related words

• English pitcher
• English beaker

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl
2. ^ a b c d e f g du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
3. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ 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