structura

Forms

strūctūra f (genitive strūctūrae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin struo (“to pile up, build”) + -ūra.^[2][1] struō continues Proto-Italic *strowō, from Proto-Indo-European *stréweti, from Proto-Indo-European *strew- (“to spread”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates its first use to Cicero, 81–43 BC.^[3] Caesar uses it of the masonry of walls.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

It meant the process and method of building, as Livy's old way of building with mud instead of lime, and Vitruvius' Greek manner of building.^[2] It was masonry, brickwork or concrete, and in the plural masonry structures.^[2][5] Lewis & Short note a general sense of fitting together, as of the bones of the hand in Celsus.^[6] Frontinus uses it of the arrangement of an army, and Quintilian and Pliny of the fitting of stones.^[2][4]

In medieval Latin it was a building.^[7] English structure is recorded in the mid-15th century, and as a building since the 1610s.^[8]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it.^[3]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it of masonry.^[2][3]
• 14–37 AD – Celsus uses it of the bones of the hand.^[6][3]
• mid-15th century – English structure is recorded.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. Building, construction; a method of building.^[2][1]
2. The form, structure or arrangement of anything.^[2][4]
3. masonry, brickwork, concrete.^[2][1]
4. The arrangement of an army.^[2]
5. (Medieval Latin) A building.^[7]

Word family

• īnfrastrūctūra

Related words

• struō
• English structure
• English construct

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
5. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com