Etymologically
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rubrica

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ruːˈbriː.ka][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ruˈbriː.ka][1]

Forms

rūbrīca f (genitive rūbrīcae); first declension[1] The OLD and Lewis & Short mark the first vowel short (⟨rubrīca⟩); Wiktionary and Conte give ⟨rūbrīca⟩.[2][3][1][4]

Etymology

It is from Latin ruber (“red”) + -īcus, used as a feminine noun.[2][5] Lewis and Short explain it as red earth, with terra (“earth”) understood.[3] Wiktionary reports Nussbaum's view that it is the feminine, used as a noun, of an older compound adjective.[1] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of ⟨ruber⟩, which goes back to Proto-Italic *ruþro- (“red”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₁rudʰ-ró- (“red”).[6] Cognate with Umbrian rufru (“red”), Sanskrit रुधिर (rudhirá-, “red, bloody”) and Ancient Greek ἐρυθρός (eruthrós, “red”).[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus,[6][5] whose Truculentus mocks someone who has dyed the cheeks with red ochre and the whole body with chalk.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

It meant red ochre, especially as a pigment: Vitruvius says the best comes from Sinope on the Black Sea, Horace writes of battles painted in red ochre or charcoal, and Pliny the Elder of people who smear their bodies with it.[2][3] Cato uses it for marking vines, Columella for marking bees, and Persius of a mason sighting along a red line.[2] It was also used in medicine and farming, as against ants on tree trunks.[2] Cato and Columella use it of a heavy red clay, probably the terra rossa of Italy,[2][7] and Celsus of a kind of rash.[2][4]

Because the headings of laws were painted red, it came to mean such a heading and then the law itself:[2][3] Persius writes of anything forbidden by the law of Masurius, Quintilian of men who turned to the praetor's edict and the laws, and the jurist Paulus of interdicts listed under a heading.[2][7] Medieval Latin used it for the red heading of a law, a law, a monastic rule, any heading or title, and a memorandum.[8] In Church Latin it is a rubric, a direction for the liturgy.[9][10] English rubric comes from it, partly through Old French.[11]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of red ochre on the cheeks.[2][5]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of red clay and for marking vines.[2][5]
  • c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius describes it as a pigment.[2][5]
  • 14–37 AD – Celsus uses it as the name of a rash.[2][5]
  • 34–62 AD – Persius uses it of a law.[2][5]
  • 1st half of the 3rd century AD – Paulus uses it of a heading in the law.[2][5]
  • c. 1300 – Borrowed into English as rubric for liturgical directions.[11]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Red ochre, ruddle, especially as a pigment.[2][3]
  2. A heavy red clay.[2][7]
  3. (medicine) A kind of rash.[2][4]
  4. The red heading of a chapter in a book of law; the chapter, the law itself.[2][3]
  5. (Medieval Latin) A heading or title; a monastic rule; a memorandum.[8]
  6. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A rubric, a liturgical direction.[9][10]

Word family

  • rūbrīcōsus
  • rūbrīcātus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  7. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  9. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  10. ^ 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
  11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com