piraticus

Forms

pīrāticus (feminine pīrātica, neuter pīrāticum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek πειρατικός (peiratikós, “piratical”).^[2][3][4] It belongs with pīrāta (“pirate”), from πειρατής (peiratḗs), which Wiktionary derives from πεῖρα (peîra, “trial, attempt”).^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it first in Varro, Cicero and Livy;^[4] Varro's De re rustica recalls the time when he commanded fleets in the war against the pirates.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is of or belonging to pirates, as Cicero's captured pirate galley, and of the pirate war.^[3][2] In verse it occurs only once or twice each in Lucan, Claudian and Sidonius;^[4] Lucan's laurea pīrātica is the triumph over the pirates.^[3] As a noun pīrātica is piracy.^[3] Köbler lists a further use from about 1250 in Latham.^[5]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro, of the war against the pirates.^[2][4][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero, of a pirate ship.^[3][5]
• 39–65 AD – Lucan, of victories over pirates.^[3][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or belonging to pirates, piratical.^[2][3][1]
2. Involving pirates, against pirates.^[2]

Word family

• pīrātica

Related words

• pīrāta

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de