Etymologically
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raga

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Forms

rāga f (genitive rāgae); first declension[1]

Etymology

The origin is unknown, and the word itself may not be genuine.[2] It rests on one law of the Codex Theodosianus (14.10.3), whose reading the TLL considers hardly correct.[2] Georges, Gaffiot and VoLat refer it to racana, a kind of garment,[3][1][4] and some editors read a form close to that word.[2] Reinesius proposed to read bracis, and Du Cange agreed, since the law before it mentions them.[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The only record is a law of the Codex Theodosianus on dress in the city: Intra urbem Romam nemo vel ragis vel tzancis utatur, “within the city of Rome let no one wear either ragae or tzangae”.[5][2]

Semantic evolution

Du Cange took the following law, which bans long hair and garments of skins even for slaves, to show that the forbidden items were foreign dress, and the later editor Carpentier took the diminutive ragella to mean the same thing as raga.[5]

Timeline

  • 438 AD – The Codex Theodosianus forbids wearing ragae in Rome.[5][1][6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (Late Latin, doubtful) A kind of garment, perhaps the same as a racana.[3][1][2]

Usage notes

A separate raga appears in a British Medieval Latin glossary as the name of the ray or skate (the fish), with the French gloss raye; the DMLBS compares Classical raia.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  4. ^ VoLat: Vocabolario della Lingua Latina (2018), Milan: Hoepli
  5. ^ a b c d du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
  6. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  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