sipho

Forms

sīphō m (genitive sīphōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek σίφων (síphōn, “pipe, tube”).^[2][3][1] The Greek word is a technical term of uncertain origin;^[4][1] Wiktionary mentions a possible connection with tībia “pipe” and, because of its irregular forms, a non-Indo-European source,^[1] while Köbler queries a Semitic origin.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Lucilius, quoted by Cicero, for a siphon.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

It named any tube or set of tubes through which liquid is forced under pressure:^[2] the siphon that mechanics called diabētēs in Columella, Seneca, Pliny the Elder and Juvenal,^[3][6] and a drinking-tube in Celsus.^[3] It was above all a device for putting out fires, a fire engine,^[2] in Pliny the Younger's letters, the Digest and Isidore of Seville.^[3][6] By metonymy it was also the jet of liquid itself, in a passage of Seneca the Elder that mocks a speaker's phrases about siphons.^[2] The spellings sīpō and sīfō also occur.^[2][3] In British medieval Latin it was a vessel with a spout, which Bartholomew the Englishman describes as used in the East to put out fires.^[7] English borrowed siphon from it in the late 14th century, first for a water hose.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius uses it, in a line quoted by Cicero.^[3][5]
• 1st century AD – Columella uses it for a siphon.^[3][5]
• 14–37 AD – Celsus uses it for a drinking-tube.^[3][5]
• before 223 AD – Ulpian, in the Digest, uses it for a fire engine.^[6][5]
• late 14th century – English borrows it as siphon.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A siphon, a tube through which liquid is forced.^[2][3][6]
2. A drinking-tube.^[3]
3. A fire engine.^[2][3][6]
4. (by metonymy) A jet of liquid.^[2]
5. (Medieval Latin) A vessel with a spout.^[7]

Word family

• sīphunculus

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ 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