struma

Forms

strūma f (genitive strūmae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.^[2][3] De Vaan considers a connection possible in theory with Old Norse strútr (“top”), Old English strūtian (“to stand still”), German strotz (“stiff”) and Middle High German strūz (“resistance”), which go back to Proto-Indo-European *strūd-, but the semantic link is not compelling, and the late attestation in Latin makes an Indo-European etymology less certain.^[2] The OLD compares German strotzen.^[3] Lewis and Short and Gaffiot derive it from struō (“to pile up”).^[4][5][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Cicero,^[2][6] who uses it of Vatinius' swelling and, figuratively, of men who cut out a plague “like a struma of the state”.^[4][7]

Semantic evolution

It was the medical name for a swelling of the lymphatic glands, scrofula, in Celsus and Pliny the Elder,^[4][5] and was sometimes mentioned as a typically unsightly flaw.^[3] Catullus uses it jokingly of a certain Nonius, “Nonius the Struma”;^[7][4] it was also a Roman surname.^[4]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it both literally and figuratively.^[2][4][6]
• 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus uses it as a nickname.^[7][6]
• 14–37 AD – Celsus uses it as a medical term.^[4][5][6]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder gives remedies for it.^[4][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. (medicine) A swelling of the lymphatic glands, scrofula.^[3][4]
2. (figurative) An unsightly flaw, a festering part: struma civitatis, the festering part of the state.^[3][7]

Word family

• strumaticus
• strumella
• strūmōsus
• strūmus

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
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 Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier