Etymologically
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segestre

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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]

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