storea

Pronunciation

• Classical: [ˈstɔ.re.a]^[1]
• Ecclesiastical: [ˈstɔː.re.a]^[1]

Forms

storea f (genitive storeae); first declension^[1] Good manuscripts also have the spelling storia, as in Caesar.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

The OLD calls the origin doubtful.^[2] Lewis & Short connect it with the root of sternō “to spread” and with Ancient Greek στορέννυμι (storénnumi, “to spread out”), Georges with the same Greek verb and Gaffiot with στορέω (storéō),^[3][5][4] and Köbler too relates it to the Latin verb.^[6] Wiktionary's view is that it is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *sterh₃- (“to spread”), the root also of strāmen and torus.^[1]

Cognate with Ancient Greek στόρνυμι (stórnumi, “to spread, scatter”) and Old English strewian (“to strew”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest example is in Caesar's Civil War, where it names mats of rope or rushes;^[2][3][7][6] the best manuscripts there have storia.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It named a mat or matting plaited of straw, rushes or rope.^[2][3] After Caesar, Livy uses it,^[3][5][7] and Pliny the Elder too.^[3]

Medieval British sources use it for rush mats and matting, for a chapter house, for standing on at mass and for covering casks of ale; glossaries render it with English “mat”.^[8] The word lives on in Italian stuoia “mat”.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it of mats of rope and rushes.^[2][3][6]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it.^[3][7][6]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it.^[3][6]
• 1417 – An account records mats bought for the chapter.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A mat or matting plaited of straw, rushes or rope.^[2][3][7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
5. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b 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