regesta

Forms

regesta n pl (genitive regestōrum); second declension^[1][2][3] Medieval Latin also has a singular ⟨regestum⟩ and the forms ⟨registrum⟩ and ⟨regestrum⟩.^[4][5][6]

Etymology

It is from Latin regerō (“to carry back; to enter, transcribe”): the neuter plural of its past participle, used as a noun.^[3][2][1][6] Quintilian already uses the verb for entering things in notebooks, the sense the noun rests on.^[3][7][8] The verb is formed from re- (“back”) and gerō (“to carry, bear”).^[8][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis & Short and Georges cite it first from Prudentius' Peristephanon and the life of Probus in the Historia Augusta;^[7][3][1] the Historia Augusta speaks of the regesta of the scribes.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The Theodosian Code uses it for the registers of the government offices: its preface mentions what had been entered in the regesta of the various offices.^[1][9][10] Niermeyer glosses it as the register of an office of the imperial government, and also the royal treasury and, in the plural, a chronicle.^[4]

Medieval Latin made a singular regestum, a book into which letters were copied, above all the letters of the popes,^[9][5] and the form registrum with an extra ⟨r⟩, the source of English register.^[6][5] The glossary of Iso explains regestum as a book holding records from other books and letters gathered into one, called so “as if done again”.^[9] Some later senses of the English word were coloured by the unrelated verb regō (“to rule”).^[6]

Timeline

• 348/49–c. 413 AD – Prudentius uses it of a register.^[7][3][10]
• 438 AD – The Theodosian Code uses it of the registers of government offices.^[1][10]
• 540–604 AD – Köbler's first source for the singular regestum is Gregory the Great.^[10]
• 1199 – Roger of Howden tells of letters written into the pope's regestum.^[5]
• late 14th century – English borrows register from Old French and Medieval Latin.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Late Latin, plural) A register, list, catalogue.^{[1][3][7][2][10]}
2. (Late Latin, plural) The records of a government office.^[4][9][1]
3. (Medieval Latin) A royal treasury; a chronicle.^[4]

Related words

• registrum
• English register

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
2. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b c d Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
5. ^ a b c d 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
6. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de