Etymologically
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pilleatus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [pɪl.leˈaː.tʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [pil.leˈaː.tus][1]

Forms

pilleātus (feminine pilleāta, neuter pilleātum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin pilleus (“felt cap”) + -ātus,[2][3] also spelled ⟨pīle-⟩.[2][4] De Vaan calls pilleus etymologically obscure.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL quotes it first from Catullus, who places a tavern at the ninth pillar from the “capped brothers”, the statues of Castor and Pollux.[3]

Semantic evolution

The cap was a mark of freedom: Livy writes of the volones feasting pilleati or with their heads covered in white wool,[2][3] and of a crowd of colonists, freed from captivity, following the chariot pilleati.[2][3] Freedmen walked capped before their master's funeral.[3] Gellius records that slaves were put up for sale capped when the seller gave no guarantee for them.[2][6] It was also worn at the Saturnalia: Seneca speaks of the pilleata turba and Martial of a pilleata Roma.[2] The word was used too of gods and heroes shown with the cap.[3]

In British Medieval Latin it meant “wearing a cap” in general, and was used of monks and, in academic use, of graduates entitled to wear the cap.[7]

Timeline

  • 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus uses it of the statues of Castor and Pollux.[3][8]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of freed slaves and redeemed captives.[2][3][8]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of the crowd at the Saturnalia.[2][8]
  • c. 165 AD – Gellius uses it of slaves sold without guarantee.[2][8]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Wearing a pilleus, a felt cap.[2][4]
  2. Wearing the cap as a mark of manumission or of release from captivity.[2][3]
  3. (of a slave for sale) Wearing the cap to show that the seller gives no guarantee.[2][6]
  4. Wearing the cap at the Sāturnālia.[2][4]
  5. (Medieval Latin) Wearing a cap;[7] (of a monk) capped;[7] (academic) entitled to wear the graduate's cap.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ a b c d 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. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de