schema

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈskʰeː.ma]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈskɛː.ma]^[1]

Forms

schēma f (genitive schēmae or schēmatis); variously declined, first declension, third declension^[1] Also scēma; neuter, genitive schēmatis (or -atos), and in early Latin a feminine schēma, -ae.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek σχῆμα (skhêma, “form, shape, bearing”), from the root of ἔχω (ékhō, “to have, hold”).^[2][1][4][5] Plautus and Caecilius have a short first vowel, representing Achaean ⟨skhéma⟩.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is from Naevius, of a fashion or get-up.^[2] Köbler dates Naevius c. 235–200 BC.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It was a fashion, style, get-up, as in Naevius and Plautus; a shape or form, as of a geometrical figure in Vitruvius; a posture, as in Apuleius; and in rhetoric a figure of speech, as in Seneca.^[2][6]

In Medieval Latin it was an appearance, attire, dress, especially a religious habit.^[7][8] In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant a form, outline, figure, draft, arrangement.^[9] Medieval Latin schēma “figure of speech” gave English scheme in the 1550s, and English schema was taken from Greek for Kant's philosophy in 1796.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 235–200 BC – Naevius uses it of attire.^[2][4]
• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of a figure.^[6][4]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of a figure of speech.^[2][4]
• 1550s – English scheme is recorded.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A fashion, style; Attire, dress.^[2][7]
2. A shape, form, figure.^[2]
3. A posture, attitude.^[2]
4. (rhetoric) A figure of speech.^[2]
5. (Medieval Latin) A religious habit.^[7]

Related words

• schēmatismos
• schēmatometria
• figūra
• English scheme
• English schema

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ 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
9. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson