sagma

Forms

sagma f (genitive sagmae); first declension, or sagma n (genitive sagmatis); third declension^[2][3][4] Medieval spellings include sogma, sauma, salma, souma, soima, somma, soma, summa and suma.^[5][6] Isidore of Seville notes that the common people say salma.^[7]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek σάγμα (ságma, “pack-saddle”),^[1][8][6] from σάττω (sáttō, “to stuff, press, pack”).^[1]

Isidore of Seville explained it from the spreading of cloaks (sagum) on the animal.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in the Itala, the Old Latin Bible, in Leviticus,^[2][6] for a pack-saddle.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Vegetius uses it as a feminine,^[2][3] and the Vulgate, in the same verse of Leviticus, as a neuter.^[2] The Edict of Diocletian lists the pack-saddles of mules, donkeys and camels.^[2] From it came sagmarius, used of a packhorse or pack mule.^[7][1]

In medieval Latin the word passed from the saddle to the load it carried, the burden of a beast of burden, and then to a measure for liquids and dry goods.^[5][9][1] Italian salma and soma come from the Late Latin word.^[4]

Timeline

• after 220 AD – The Itala uses it in Leviticus.^[2][6]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it as a neuter.^[2][6]
• c. 400 AD – Vegetius uses it as a feminine.^[2][6]
• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville records the popular form salma.^[7][6]
• 886 – It appears in charters.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Late Latin) A pack-saddle.^[8][2][10]
2. (Medieval Latin) The load of a beast of burden.^[5][9]
3. (Medieval Latin) A measure for liquids or dry goods, a seam.^[5][9]

Word family

• sagmarius

Usage notes

Niermeyer files soma and somma under this word.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
4. ^ a b 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 Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c d Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
8. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c 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
10. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson