semodius

Forms

sēmodius m (genitive sēmodiī); second declension^[1] A fuller form sēmimodius appears in the metrological writers.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin sēmi- (“half”) + modius (“a dry measure, peck”),^[4][1] with the prefix shortened to ⟨sē-⟩ before ⟨m⟩, as de Vaan notes sometimes happens.^[5] De Vaan traces the prefix to Proto-Italic *sēmi- and Proto-Indo-European *sēm-i (“in one”), whose meaning shifted from “one” to “one of two” and then “half”.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it first in Cato,^[6] whose list of farm equipment includes modium praeferrātum I, sēmodium I, one iron-bound modius and one half-modius, a measuring vessel.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It was the standard name for half a modius, a dry measure of grain and the like, in Varro, Columella, Pliny the Elder, Martial and Juvenal.^[7][2][8] Varro used it of a quantity of pearls, sēmodius margarītārum.^[2]

It lived on in Medieval Latin, also as sēmimodius:^[3][9] Osbern of Gloucester defines it as half a modius, and English inventories of 1397 list a semimodius beside a bushel.^[9]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato lists a half-modius measure among farm equipment.^[4][6]
• 116–27 BC – Varro speaks of half a modius of pearls.^[2]
• 1st century AD – Columella uses it as a measure.^[7]
• 40–102/103 AD – Martial uses it.^[7]
• 1397 – An English inventory lists a semimodius beside a bushel.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A Roman dry measure of half a modius, a half-peck.^[4][7]
2. A measuring vessel of this capacity.^[4]

Word family

• sēmodiālis

Related words

• sēmis
• sēlībra

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c 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