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
- The skin, hide or fleece stripped from an animal.[4]
- (usually plural) Arms taken from an enemy, spoils, booty.[4]
- Anything gained by violence, plunder.[4]
- (law) The clothes of an executed criminal.[4]
- (Medieval Latin) Movable goods; the movable estate of a dead cleric.[8]
Word family
- spoliārium
- spolor
- spoliō
Related words
- English spoil
- English spoliation
References
- ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ 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
- ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
- ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
- ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
- ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com