Etymologically
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strigilis

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈstrɪ.ɡɪ.lɪs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈstriː.d͡ʒi.lis][1]

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

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