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sipho

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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