raspecia

Forms

raspecia f (genitive raspeciae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

The origin is unknown;^[1] Köbler marks it as unexplained.^[1] The only text that has it says the word was the vernacular name of the drink.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It appears in the Life of Ida of Louvain, which tells how all the wines of a household began to ferment again, including what was called raspecia in the vernacular, and how part of the raspecia was beaten with a broom so that it might cure the rest.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The interpretations differ: the editor of the Life took it for a vessel holding several casks, in which wine merchants keep older wine through the summer, and Köbler, following Blaise, glosses it as a wine cask.^[2][1] Du Cange's later editors argued from the whole passage that it was wine renewed by adding grapes or by other means, which the French called râpé, and Maigne glosses it the same way.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Medieval Latin) Wine renewed with fresh grapes, râpé.^[2]
2. (Medieval Latin) A large wine cask or vessel.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
2. ^ a b c d e du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre