Etymologically
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piscarius

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [pɪsˈkaː.ri.ʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [pisˈkaː.ri.us][1]

Forms

piscārius (feminine piscāria, neuter piscārium); first/second-declension adjective[1] As a noun: piscārius, piscāriī m (second declension), fishmonger;[2][3] piscāria, piscāriae f (first declension), fish market.[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin piscis (“fish”) + -ārius.[4][1] piscis goes back to Proto-Italic *piski- (“fish”) and Proto-Indo-European *pisk- (“fish”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus on,[5] as an adjective “of fish”: he speaks of the forum piscarium, the fish market, and of a fish-hook.[4][2][6]

Semantic evolution

The adjective referred to fish as a commodity, as in Plautus' plenty of fish at the market,[4][6] and Varro places the forum piscarium beside the Tiber.[6] As nouns, piscarius meant a fishmonger and piscaria a fish market in fragments ascribed to Varro[2][7] that the TLL doubts are genuine,[6] and piscaria also occurs in the Digest.[2][3]

In medieval Latin piscarius could mean a fisherman,[8] and the adjective was still used of fish and fishing in British sources.[9] The noun use lives on in Romance words for a fishpond or weir such as Italian pescaia and Spanish pesquera.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus names the forum piscarium.[6][10]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro locates the fish market by the Tiber.[6][10]
  • Medieval Latin – It is used for a fisherman.[8]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of or relating to fish, especially fish sold as food.[4][2]
  2. forum piscarium: the fish market.[2][3]

Noun

  1. A fishmonger.[2][3]
  2. (feminine piscāria) A fish market.[2][3]
  3. (Medieval Latin) A fisherman.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  4. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b 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 c d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  7. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  8. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  9. ^ 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
  10. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de