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pilorium

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Forms

pilōrium n (genitive pilōriī); second declension[1] The usual medieval spelling is pillorium, the head under which Niermeyer, Du Cange and the NGML file it.[2][3][4] Other spellings include pellorium, pilloricum, pelloricum and ispillorium.[1][4]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.[2][1][5] The word belongs together with Old French pilori (“pillory”), which is attested from the mid-12th century.[5][4] Etymonline reports the proposal that it is a diminutive of pila2 (“pillar, stone barrier”), a derivation the OED finds phonologically unsuitable.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The NGML's earliest example is from a papal act of 1184, which lays down that a thief is first to be judged by the aldermen and then to suffer the penalty of the pillory.[4] An English pipe roll of 1186 uses it of the instrument itself.[4]

Semantic evolution

It named the pillory, a post or frame in which an offender was exposed to public scorn, and by extension the penalty of being put in it.[2][4][1] Charters granting jurisdiction list it beside the gallows among a lord's rights,[4] and the customs of Picardy use it of the punishment of thieves.[4][3] Du Cange glosses it with collistrigium and numella, words for a device that held the neck.[3]

Timeline

  • 1184 – A papal act sets the penalty of the pillory for thieves.[4]
  • 1186 – An English pipe roll records a fine for knocking down a pillory, spelled pilloricum.[4]
  • 1204 – An act of Philip Augustus has the spelling pilorium: a robber is to be put in the pillory.[4]
  • 1210 – A town charter of Ergnies prescribes the penalty of the pillory for a thief.[3]
  • mid-14th century – English has pillory, from Old French.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (Medieval Latin) A pillory.[2][4][3]
  2. (Medieval Latin) The penalty of the pillory.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  2. ^ a b c d Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  3. ^ a b c d e du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Novum Glossarium Mediae Latinitatis ab anno DCCC usque ad annum MCC (1957–), Copenhagen / Geneva / Paris: Union Académique Internationale; IRHT
  5. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com