Etymologically
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sabbatum

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈsab.ba.tũː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈsab.ba.tum][1]

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