sistrum

Forms

sīstrum n (genitive sīstrī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek σεῖστρον (seîstron, “rattle”),^[2][3][1] from σείω (seíō, “to shake”).^[2][1][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it first in Virgil,^[4] who gives it to Cleopatra as if it were her war trumpet.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

It was the metal rattle used in the worship of Isis,^[2][3] made, Georges explains, of small metal rods pushed through a sheet of metal.^[5] Ovid, Seneca, Martial, Juvenal and Apuleius mention it in the cult of Isis,^[3][5] and Propertius and Lucan repeat Virgil's picture of Cleopatra.^[3][5] The Vulgate also uses it of the Jews,^[3] and Isidore of Seville mentions it.^[3] In Ecclesiastical Latin it can mean a cornet.^[6] It survives in Italian sistro.^[7]

Timeline

• 70–19 BC – Virgil, of Cleopatra's rattle.^[3][4]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid, of the rattle of Isis.^[3][4]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius describes it in the rites of Isis.^[5][4]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it of the Jews.^[3][4]
• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville mentions it.^[3][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A sistrum, a metal rattle used in the worship of Isis.^[2][3]
2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A cornet.^[6]

Word family

• sistrātus
• sistriger

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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 d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier