statera

Forms

statēra f (genitive statērae); first declension^[1] Köbler records the later spellings stadēria and stetēra.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek στατήρ (statḗr, “a weight; a coin”),^[3][4][5] which is from Ancient Greek ἵστημι (hístēmi, “to set, weigh”).^[1] Lewis & Short thought it perhaps related to Ancient Greek στάθμη (státhmē, “a rule”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero speaks in De oratore of a goldsmith's scales;^[6][5] Varro's Menippean Satires have the goldsmith's balance as statera auraria.^[6][5]

Semantic evolution

The word named a steelyard and also a balance with scales;^[3][6] Vitruvius describes it, and Petronius and Suetonius use it.^[3][6] Pliny the Elder used it by extension for the value or grade of a product.^[3][6] From its shape it was also applied to the pole of a chariot in Statius and to a kind of platter in Cornelius Nepos.^[6][7]

British medieval Latin kept the classical sense and also used the form stater, from the Greek, for a standard weight and a measure of dry goods.^[8] Italian stadera continues it.^[1][9]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero, in De oratore, mentions a goldsmith's scales.^[6][2]
• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius describes the steelyard.^[3][2]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it for the grade of a product.^[3][2]
• c. 45–96 AD – Statius uses it for the pole of a chariot.^[3][2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A steelyard; a balance, scales.^[3][6]
2. (transferred) The value or grade of a thing.^[3][6]
3. The pole of a chariot.^[3][6]
4. A kind of platter.^[6][7]

Usage notes

Lewis & Short give libra and trutina as synonyms.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
5. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
9. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier