scruta

Forms

scrūta n pl (genitive scrūtōrum); second declension^[1]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.^[2][1] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *skrout- with a question mark and finds matching words, in form and perhaps in meaning, only in Germanic: Old High German scrōtan (“to hew, cut”), Old English scrēadian (“to peel, cut off”) and Old Norse skrúð (“valuables, garment”).^[2] Wiktionary likewise suggests Proto-Indo-European *(s)krew-t-, an extension of *(s)ker- (“to cut”), and a probable cognate in Proto-Germanic *skraudaną (“to cut up, shred”);^[1] the OLD compares scrautum (“quiver”) and the Old High German verb.^[3] De Vaan doubts that ⟨scrautum⟩ and scrōtum (“scrotum”) belong here.^[2]

Lewis & Short and Georges derive it from γρύτη (grútē, “frippery, odds and ends”), and Köbler gives this as one possibility;^[4][5][6] de Vaan rejects the Greek source outright, and Walde had already argued against it.^[2][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Lucilius,^[2] whose phrase scrūta scīta, quoted by Gellius, seems to mean a mixture of good things and junk.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

It is always plural: old and broken things, junk, the stock of a second-hand dealer, the scrūtārius.^[3][4][2] Horace and Petronius use it, and the Vulgate has it twice.^[4][5]

In Medieval Latin a singular ⟨scrutum⟩ meant a patch of cloth or a torn garment, and in a glossed text also tripe.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius speaks of scrūta scīta.^[2][3][6]
• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it.^[4][6]
• before 66 AD – Petronius uses it.^[5][6]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it.^[4][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. (plural only) Discarded goods, old or broken things, junk, frippery.^[3][4][2][1]
2. (Medieval Latin, singular scrutum) A patch of cloth; a torn garment.^[8]

Word family

• scrūtāria
• scrūtārius

Related words

• scrutor

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 de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ Walde, Alois (1906), Lateinisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
8. ^ a b 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