segestre

Forms

segestre n (genitive segestris); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek στέγαστρον (stégastron, “covering”), with dissimilation of the first consonant.^[2][1][3] Wiktionary calls the derivation “seeming”.^[1] Köbler takes the Greek word to στεγάζω (stegázō, “to cover”) and Proto-Indo-European *steg- (“to cover”).^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first author is Lucilius, who lists a segestre, perhaps a traveller's wrap, among things more useful to him than a wise man.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

It was a covering or wrapper of straw or hides that protected goods or people from the weather.^[5] Varro uses it for the cover of a litter,^[6] Pliny the Elder for wrappings of goods,^[5][6] and Festus, in Paul's epitome, for leather covers on warships that weakened the blows of missiles.^[6] Suetonius uses it of a wrap in which someone lies rolled up, beside a blanket.^[5][6] Besides the neuter there are a feminine segestria in Varro and segestra in Diocletian's Edict,^[5] and the glossaries render it with Greek diphthera, a hide.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius uses it, perhaps of a traveller's wrap.^[2][3]
• 116–27 BC – Varro has the form segestria for the cover of a litter.^[5][6][3]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it for wrappings of goods.^[5][3]
• 301 AD – Diocletian's Edict on prices lists segestra.^[5][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A covering, wrapper, case of straw or hides, to protect goods from the weather.^[2][5]
2. The cover of a litter.^[6]
3. A leather cover on a warship against missiles.^[6]
4. (perhaps) A traveller's wrap, a coarse mantle.^[2][5]

Related words

• stega

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn