rasorium

Forms

rāsōrium n (genitive rāsōriī or rāsōrī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin rādō (“to scrape, shave”) + -tōrium (“suffix for a tool”).^[1][2] Etymonline compares it with Old French rasor (“razor”), the source of the English word razor.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Old Latin (Itala) version of the Psalms, from after 220 AD:^[2] sicut rasorium acutum fecisti dolum “like a sharp razor you have worked deceit” (Psalm 51.4), rendering Ancient Greek ξυρόν (xurón); the Vulgate has novācula there.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

Rufinus, translating Origen, uses it for a tool with which a goldsmith scrapes and cleans a vessel,^[4][5] and it also appears figuratively, for a “razor of satisfaction” that cleanses the heart of sin.^[4] A glossary explains it as the place where something is scraped.^[6] The Late Latin word survives in Italian rasoio (“razor”).^[5]

Medieval Latin used it for a razor, for a knife for erasing parchment and for a strickle, the stick that levels a measure of grain;^[7] Carthusian statutes list razors with the scalpel used to scrape parchment,^[8] and British sources have it for a razor or knife and for a farrier's rasp.^[9] A cartulary of Corbie uses it for a measure of grain.^[8] Renaissance writers still used it for a razor, beside the adjective rasorius.^[10]

Timeline

• after 220 AD – The Old Latin Psalter compares deceit to a “sharp razor”.^[4][2]
• c. 345–411/412 AD – Rufinus uses it for a goldsmith's scraping tool.^[4][5][2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A razor, a sharp knife.^[4][7][9]
2. A goldsmith's file or scraper.^[4][5]
3. (Medieval Latin) A knife for erasing writing on parchment.^[7][8]
4. (Medieval Latin) A strickle for levelling a measure.^[7]
5. (Medieval Latin) A farrier's rasp.^[9]
6. (Medieval Latin) A dry measure of grain.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
3. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c d Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b c 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. ^ Ramminger, Johann, Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700, www.neulatein.de