Etymologically
Log in

scatebra

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 24 October 2026 at 18:48. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈska.tɛ.bra][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈskaː.te.bra][1]

Forms

scatebra f (genitive scatebrae); first declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin scateō (“to gush, bubble”) + -bra, a noun for the place where water gushes.[2][1] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of scatō (also ⟨scateō⟩), which goes back to Proto-Italic *skat- and Proto-Indo-European *skt-.[3] He compares Lithuanian skàsti (“to jump”), with the same link between “jump” and “gush forth” as in English “spring”, and suggests that the Latin ⟨scat-⟩ may come from a secondary vowel in the sequence /skt/.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest example is in Accius,[2][3][4] who speaks of a spring “gushing up” from under a rock.[2]

Semantic evolution

Virgil used the plural for spring water that waters the dry fields,[2][5] and Pliny the Elder for the springs of Mount Atlas and for a gushing little fountain.[2] Pliny also names a stream in the territory of Casinum Scatebra.[2][1] Fronto used it figuratively of a gushing crowd of lawyers making the same claim.[2] In Ecclesiastical Latin it stayed a word for spring water and a source.[6]

Timeline

  • 170–c. 90 BC – Accius uses it of a spring gushing from under a rock.[2][4]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses the plural of spring water in the Georgics.[2][4]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of springs and names a river Scatebra near Casinum.[2][4]
  • 100–170 AD – Fronto uses it figuratively.[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A gush of water from the ground, a bubbling spring.[2][5]
  2. (figurative) A gushing stream or crowd (of people).[2]
  3. (proper noun) Scatebra, a small river near Casinum in Latium.[2][1]

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 k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson