Etymologically
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stemma

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈstɛm.ma][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈstɛm.ma][1]

Forms

stemma n (genitive stemmatis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek στέμμα (stémma, “headband, garland”),[2][3][1][4] which Köbler compares with στέφω (stéphō, “to put around”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Seneca,[4] who uses it both of garlands on ancestral images and of a family tree.[5][6]

Semantic evolution

In Rome the word named a garland hung on ancestral images, as in Seneca and Pliny the Elder, and the family tree traced on a parchment decorated with such a garland.[5][7][6] The OLD gives only this sense: a genealogical table, and by extension pedigree or lineage.[2] Suetonius, Persius, Juvenal and Martial use it so.[5] Martial jokes about the smoky “pedigree” of someone's old silverware, and Prudentius speaks of the great antiquity of fasting in the same way.[5][7] In Late Latin it could mean any garland or wreath, as in Firmicus Maternus and Prudentius.[5][6]

In medieval Latin it also meant “crown” and “diadem”, “blood relative” and “wergeld”, besides the old “pedigree”.[8][9] Stelten also gives “coat of arms”.[10] The word survives in Italian stemma and English stemma.[1]

Timeline

  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of garlands on ancestral images and of a family tree.[5][4]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder describes the garlands on ancestral portraits.[5][4]
  • c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it of pedigree.[5][4]
  • 343/350 AD – Firmicus Maternus uses it of a garland.[5][4]
  • 639–709 AD – Aldhelm calls the tonsure a sign of royal and priestly stemma, a crown.[9][4]
  • early 8th century – Bede uses it of royal lineage.[9][4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A genealogical table, family tree;[2][5] (by extension) pedigree, lineage.[2][5]
  2. A garland hung on ancestral images.[5][7]
  3. (figurative) Great age, antiquity (of silverware, of a custom).[5][7]
  4. (Late Latin) A garland, wreath.[5][6]
  5. (Medieval Latin) A crown, diadem.[8][9]
  6. (Medieval Latin) A blood relative.[8]
  7. (Medieval Latin) Wergeld.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  8. ^ a b c d Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  9. ^ a b c d 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
  10. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson