Etymologically
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structura

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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

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