scirpea

Forms

scirpea f (genitive scirpeae); first declension^[1] It is also spelled sirpea and sirpia, and the genitive scirpiae is found.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin scirpeus (“made of rushes”), its feminine used as a noun;^[2] the adjective is formed from scirpus (“bulrush”).^[3][4] The OLD suggests that the spelling with ⟨sirp-⟩ spread from the natural dissimilation in sirpiculus.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cato lists a dung basket, sirpiam stercorariam, among the equipment of an estate.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

It was a large basket of bulrushes;^[2] Varro explains it as one in which dung or something else is carried, and Ovid puts one on a cart.^[2] Arnobius still uses it.^[4]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato lists a dung basket of this kind on the farm.^[2][5][3]
• 116–27 BC – Varro explains it as a basket for carrying dung.^[2][3]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid, in the Fasti, has one on a cart.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A large basket made of bulrushes, used on a cart for carrying dung and the like.^[2][4][5]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
5. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier