strigilis

Forms

strigilis f (genitive strigilis); third declension^[1] The accusative is also strigilim (Plautus, Lucilius) and the ablative strigilī; contracted forms such as genitive plural striglium and dative plural striglibus occur in Vitruvius, Celsus and Juvenal.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is probably from Latin stringō (“to strip off, graze”), though the suffix is obscure.^[2][1][4] De Vaan places it with the second meaning of that verb, “to strip off, scratch, shave”, which goes back to Proto-Indo-European *stri-n-g- (“to brush, strip”);^[5] he notes that this meaning is hard to derive from the verb's other sense, “to tie, tighten”.^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus is the first author:^[7][2] in the Persa a parasite is to carry an oil flask, a strigil and a bowl.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It was the bather's scraper of metal or horn, with a curved, grooved blade for scraping oil, sweat and dirt off the skin, the Greek στλεγγίς (stlengís).^[2][4] It appears in Lucilius, Varro, Cicero, Horace, Persius, Seneca and Juvenal.^[4][2] By likeness Celsus and Pliny the Elder used it for a grooved instrument for dropping medicine into the ear,^[2][4] Vitruvius for the fluting of a column,^[2][4] and Pliny for a small nugget of native gold in Spain.^[4][3]

In medieval Britain it also meant a curry-comb for horses, with Anglo-Norman estrille beside it, and a stirrup.^[8] English borrowed strigil in the 1580s.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus lists it with a parasite's bath kit.^[2][7]
• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it for the fluting of columns.^[2][7]
• 14–37 AD – Celsus uses it for an ear syringe.^[2][7]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it for a nugget of gold.^[4][7]
• 1211 – A Winchester pipe roll has the form strilla for a horse's curry-comb.^[8]
• 1580s – English borrows it as strigil.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A strigil, a curved scraper for removing oil, sweat and dirt from the skin at the bath.^[2][4]
2. (medicine) A grooved instrument for putting drops into the ear.^[2][4]
3. (architecture) A fluting of a column.^[2][4]
4. A small nugget of native gold.^[4][3]
5. (Medieval Latin) A curry-comb.^[8]

Word family

• strigilēcula

Related words

• stringō
• strictim
• English strigil

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ a b c 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