pyramis

Forms

pȳramis f (genitive pȳramidis or pȳramidos); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek πυραμίς (puramís, “pyramid”),^[2][3][4][1] which is probably of foreign origin;^[2] Lewis & Short and Köbler take it to be Egyptian,^[3][4] and Etymonline an alteration of an Egyptian word.^[5] Greek ⟨πυραμίς⟩ was also a cake of roasted wheat and honey, which is said to come from πυρός (purós, “wheat”).^[5]

Ancient writers derived the name from the shape: a scholiast on Horace says the pile rises to a point like a flame, and Isidore that the figure narrows from a broad base to a point like fire.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first author is Cicero,^[4] who in the De natura deorum has a speaker say that the cone, the cylinder and the pyramid look less beautiful than the sphere.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

It is a pyramid of Egypt, as when Horace says his poems will stand higher than the royal pile of the pyramids (rēgālīque sitū pȳramidum altius),^[2] the geometrical solid,^[2][3] and any building or natural object of that shape, as in Vitruvius.^[2] Tacitus mentions them, and Pliny the Elder writes that we admire the pyramids of kings (pȳramidas rēgum mīrāmur).^[3] Beside the Greek third declension there is a form ⟨pyramida⟩ of the first.^[6]

Boethius uses it in geometry,^[3] and medieval British writers of monumental tombs in the Egyptian manner.^[7] English first used the Latin form ⟨piramis⟩ (late 14th century) before ⟨pyramid⟩ (1550s) from French.^[5]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the geometrical solid.^[2][4]
• 65–8 BC – Horace compares his poems to the pyramids.^[2][4]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus mentions the pyramids of Egypt.^[3][4]
• late 14th century – English uses the Latin form ⟨piramis⟩.^[5]
• 1550s – English pyramid is recorded.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A pyramid of Egypt.^[2][3][8]
2. (geometry) A pyramid, the solid figure.^[2][3]
3. Any pyramid-shaped structure or natural object.^[2]
4. (Medieval Latin) A monumental tomb.^[7]

Related words

• English pyramid

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b 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
8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson