sabbatum

Forms

sabbatum n (genitive sabbatī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek σάββατον (sábbaton, “Sabbath”),^[1][2][3] from Biblical Hebrew שבת (šabbāṯ, “rest, Sabbath”).^[1][3] The plural form follows the Greek plural σάββατα (sábbata).^[4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Horace,^[2] whose Satires mention tricesima sabbata, “the thirtieth Sabbath”;^[3][4] Georges reports that some take this to be the Day of Atonement and others the new moon.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

Classical writers mostly use the plural sabbata for the Jewish day of rest,^[4][3] which the Romans took to be a fast day.^[4][3] Seneca and Suetonius use it for the seventh day of the week, Saturday,^[4][5] and Ovid, Persius and Juvenal for Jewish feast days in general.^[4][5] The singular is frequent in Church writers, especially in the Vulgate and Jerome.^[4][3]

Christian Latin counted the days of the week from the Sabbath.^[5][6] Medieval Latin also used it for a week,^[7] and British writers figuratively for the soul's rest from worldly cares and its rest after death.^[6] The Italian sabato continues it,^[5] and the English word Sabbath comes from it through Old English.^[8]

Timeline

• 65–8 BC – Horace mentions the tricesima sabbata.^[4][2]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid writes of “foreign sabbaths”.^[4][5][2]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it for Saturday.^[4][5][2]
• c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome uses the singular, and ūna sabbatī for the day after the Sabbath.^[4][5][2]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses the singular for the Sabbath.^[4][3][2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The Sabbath, the Jewish day of rest (usually in the plural sabbata).^[4][3][1]
2. Saturday, the seventh day of the week.^[4][9][1]
3. (plural) Jewish feast days in general.^[4][5]
4. (Medieval Latin) A week.^[7]
5. (Medieval Latin, figurative) Spiritual rest; the rest of the soul after death.^[6]

Word family

• sabbatārius
• sabbatizō

Usage notes

In the Vulgate and Church writers ūna sabbatī or prīma sabbatī is the first day of the week, Sunday, and secunda sabbatī Monday.^[5][6]

References

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