spica

Forms

spīca f (genitive spīcae); first declension^[1] A neuter spīcum occurs in Varro and Cicero, and a masculine spīcus in a play quoted by Festus.^[2] Varro reports a rustic form spēca.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *speikā-, from Proto-Indo-European *speig- or *spiHg-.^[4][1] Cognate with Old High German speihha (“spoke”), Old English spāca (“spoke”), Old Norse spíkr (“nail”) and perhaps Lithuanian speigliaĩ (“thorns”): all are words for something sharp, with no further etymology.^[4] The OLD calls the origin doubtful.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cato,^[5] who uses it of the heads of ulpicum and garlic.^[2] De Vaan dates it from Varro.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It is an ear of grain:^[2][3] Varro compares hairs bristling on the body to the awns on an ear of barley, Livy has bloody ears falling into the reapers' basket, and Ovid's Ceres wears ears in her hair.^[2] In astronomy it is the star Spica in Virgo, from Cicero's Aratea on.^[2][6] Vitruvius uses spīca testācea of tiles laid like an ear of grain, in herringbone work.^[2] It is also any spike or head of a plant: nardī spīca is spikenard, in Celsus and Scribonius Largus, and spīca Cilissa saffron, in Propertius and Ovid.^[2] Varro says country people called it spēca, as they had of old.^[3][2] English took spica as the name of the star in the 1650s.^[6]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato of the heads of plants.^[2][5]
• 116–27 BC – Varro of ears of barley.^[2][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of the star in Virgo.^[2]
• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius of herringbone paving.^[2]
• 1650s – English spica for the star.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. An ear of grain.^[2][3][1][7]
2. (astronomy) The star Spica in Virgo.^[2][6]
3. (architecture) spīca testācea, tiles laid in herringbone pattern.^[2]
4. A spike or head of a plant;^[2][1] nardī spīca, spikenard;^[2][1] spīca Cilissa, saffron.^[2][1]

Word family

• spīceus
• spīcifer
• spīcilegium
• spīcō
• spicula
• spīculum

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson