spolium

Forms

spolium n (genitive spoliī or spolī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *spoli(o)- (“skin, hide”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *spol(H)-i(o)- (“what is split, stripped off”), probably from a root Proto-Indo-European *(s)pelH- (“to split, cleave”).^[2][1][3] Cognate with Ancient Greek σπολάς (spolás, “leather garment”), Ancient Greek ἄσπαλον (áspalon, “skin”) and Lithuanian spãliai (“bits of flax stalk”).^[2][4] De Vaan notes that the exact form of the root and its derivatives are hard to establish.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus.^[2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense was the skin, hide or fleece stripped from an animal, as the slough of snakes and the fleece in Ovid.^[4][5] Then, usually in the plural, it meant the arms and equipment taken from a defeated enemy, the spoils of war, booty.^[4][6] By transfer it meant anything gained by violence, as Cicero's man killed for his spoils, and in law the clothes taken from a criminal at execution.^[4] Döderlein says spolia and exuviae are booty as tokens of victory and honour, while praeda is booty as gain.^[7]

In Medieval Latin it meant robbery, clothing, movable goods, and the movable estate of a dead cleric.^[8] The verb spoliō gave English spoil about 1300, first “to strip a slain enemy”.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^[2][3]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of a man killed for his spoils.^[4][3]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of a fleece.^[5][3]
• c. 1300 – English spoil is recorded.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. The skin, hide or fleece stripped from an animal.^[4]
2. (usually plural) Arms taken from an enemy, spoils, booty.^[4]
3. Anything gained by violence, plunder.^[4]
4. (law) The clothes of an executed criminal.^[4]
5. (Medieval Latin) Movable goods; the movable estate of a dead cleric.^[8]

Word family

• spoliārium
• spolor
• spoliō

Related words

• English spoil
• English spoliation

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com