Etymologically
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stannum

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈstan.nũː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈstan.num][1]

Forms

stannum n (genitive stannī); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is probably borrowed from Celtic, a word of Celtic origin;[1][2] Wiktionary traces it to Proto-Celtic *stagnom and compares Irish stán,[1] and Etymonline compares Welsh ystaen, Cornish sten and Breton sten.[2] Etymonline also calls the spelling with ⟨nn⟩ a scribal alteration of stagnum,[2] and the OLD records the word under that spelling, comparing, with hesitation, Ancient Greek σταφυλή (staphulḗ).[3] Lewis & Short note that ⟨stagnum⟩ was perhaps also written, whence the adjectives stagneus and stanneus.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pliny the Elder uses it for an alloy of silver and lead,[4][5] the sense Suetonius also has.[4]

Semantic evolution

In Late Latin it came to mean tin, which had earlier been called plumbum album or candidum;[4] Jerome and Isidore of Seville use it so,[4][5] and Stelten glosses it only as tin.[6]

In Medieval Latin the spelling stannum also stood for stagnum “pond”,[7][8] and Du Cange lists it as well for a stall where wares were sold, a tin vessel, and a form of scamnum “bench”.[8] The word is the source of Italian stagno, French étain and Spanish estaño “tin”,[2] and Modern Latin stannum gave the English chemical adjective stannic.[2]

Timeline

  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it for an alloy of silver and lead.[4][9]
  • c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome uses it for tin.[4][9]
  • c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville uses it for tin.[4][5][9]
  • 1790 – English forms stannic “of tin” from Modern Latin stannum.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. An alloy of silver and lead.[4][5]
  2. (Late Latin) Tin.[4][5][6]
  3. (Medieval Latin) A pond (a spelling of stagnum).[8]
  4. (Medieval Latin) A stall where goods are sold.[8]

Usage notes

The Latin Wiktionary gives Sn as the chemical symbol that goes with the word.[10]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d e Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  8. ^ a b c d du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
  9. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  10. ^ Victionarium (Latin Wiktionary), la.wiktionary.org