plumbarius

Forms

plumbārius (feminine plumbāria, neuter plumbārium); first/second-declension adjective^[1] The spellings plombārius and plompārius are found in inscriptions.^[2][3] Medieval spellings include plummārius and plummērius.^[4]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin plumbum (“lead”) + -ārius.^[2][3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest evidence the TLL cites is an inscription of the Republican period on a lamp case, signed by L. Valerius as plompari(us), worker in lead.^[3] In literature it first appears in Vitruvius (c. 84–c. 25 BC), who speaks of artifices plumbarii, workers in lead.^[6][5][7]

Semantic evolution

The adjective meant concerned with the production or working of lead:^[2] Pliny the Elder has officinae plumbariae, plumbers' workshops, and metallum plumbarium, a lead mine.^[6][5] Used as a noun, it named a worker or dealer in lead,^[2] and Frontinus reports that a pipe gauge was introduced by the plumbers through the architect Vitruvius,^[2] and the Digest lists plumbarii among craftsmen.^[6][5] Inscriptions with the form plumbarius date from about 50 BC to AD 244, most of them from Rome.^[8] Greek glossaries render it μολιβδουργός, lead-worker.^[9]

Medieval Latin kept the noun for a plumber, a worker in lead,^[10][4] and in England it passed into a surname; the adjective was used of lead work in building accounts.^[4] English plumber comes from Old French and directly from the Latin noun.^[11]

Timeline

• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius writes of artifices plumbarii.^[6][5][7]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder speaks of plumbers' workshops and a lead mine.^[6][5][7]
• 533 AD – The Digest lists plumbarii.^[6][5][7]
• 1254 – An English royal order calls for plumbarii along with other craftsmen.^[4]
• late 14th century – English has plumber, “a worker in any sort of lead”.^[11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Concerned with the production or working of lead.^[2][6]

Noun

1. A worker or dealer in lead, a plumber.^[2][6][5]
2. (Medieval Latin) A plumber; also as a surname.^[10][4]

Related words

• English plumber

Usage notes

Lewis & Short also record a neuter noun plumbārium, a place for keeping lead vessels, from the Tironian notes.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c 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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e 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
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ Kaše, Vojtěch; Heřmánková, Petra; Sobotková, Adéla et al. (2024), LIST: Latin Inscriptions in Space and Time, v1.2 (EDCS + EDH), Aarhus: SDAM, doi:10.5281/zenodo.10473706
9. ^ Goetz, Georg (1888–1923), Corpus glossariorum Latinorum, Leipzig: Teubner; vols. VI–VII Thesaurus glossarum emendatarum, digital ed. CGLO, Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
10. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com