plagius

Forms

plagius (feminine plagia, neuter plagium); first/second-declension adjective^[1][2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek πλάγιος (plágios, “slanting, sideways”).^[1][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL's first example is from the Astronomica of Hyginus, where the constellation Arctophylax rises plagius, “sideways”.^[2] The OLD defines it as placed sideways, horizontal.^[1]

Semantic evolution

An Old Latin version of Deuteronomy uses the neuter as a noun, “at the side” of the ark, translating the Greek; the TLL also records it of a shore where ships can put in.^[2] Köbler finds it in the Antonine Itinerary.^[3]

In medieval Latin plagius was one of the forms of a noun for a beach or a mountain slope.^[4][3] The TLL traces a number of Romance words for a shore or slope to it, among them Italian piaggia and spiaggia, Catalan platja and, through Italian, French plage.^[2] In music it described the plagal modes, whence plagalis.^[5][6]

Timeline

• 2nd half of the 1st century BC – Hyginus uses it of a constellation rising sideways.^[2][3]
• 3rd century AD – It occurs in the Antonine Itinerary.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Placed sideways, slanting, horizontal.^[1][2]
2. (neuter as noun) The side of something.^[2]
3. Of a shore: where ships can put in.^[2]
4. (Medieval Latin, music) Plagal (of a mode).^[5][6]

Noun

1. (Medieval Latin) A beach; a mountain slope.^[4][3]

Usage notes

The DMLBS has a separate medieval plāgius, “one who wounds; a surgeon”, formed from plāga “wound”, which the Catholicon Anglicum of 1483 records.^[7][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
5. ^ a b Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl
6. ^ a b Lexicon musicum Latinum medii aevi (1992–), Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften; online ed. Wörterbuchnetz
7. ^ 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