tabularium

Forms

tabulārium n (genitive tabulāriī or tabulārī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin tabula (“board, writing tablet”) + -ārium, “a place for tablets”.^[2][1][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Cicero,^[4] who in the speech for Archias says that the records in question were lost when the record office burnt down (incēnsō tabulāriō).^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The usual sense was a record office or archive, the building where public records were kept: Virgil speaks of the people's archives (populi tabulāria),^[2][3] Livy tells of a tabulārium closed and its public slaves sent away,^[2] and inscriptions name the tabulārium of the emperor.^[2] Ovid uses the word for a collection of tablets of bronze and iron.^[2] In the law books it is an archive that also holds deeds of sale of slaves.^[2]

In medieval Latin Niermeyer records the senses “market stall, shop” and “notary's office”,^[5] and British sources from 1209 on use it for a board marked out for games such as draughts or backgammon.^[6] Italian has the learned tabulario.^[3]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of a record office burnt down.^[2][4]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil names the people's archives.^[2][3][4]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy tells of the tabulārium being closed.^[2][4]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of a collection of tablets.^[2][4]
• medieval – Niermeyer records the senses “shop” and “notary's office”.^[5]
• 1209 – Royal accounts in England use it for a gaming board.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A collection of inscribed tablets.^[2]
2. A record office, registry, archive.^[2][3][7]
3. (Medieval Latin) A market stall, shop; a notary's office.^[5]
4. (Medieval Latin) A board for games such as draughts or backgammon.^[6]

Related words

• tabulārius

Usage notes

Lewis & Short treat it as the neuter of the adjective tabulārius used as a noun; the masculine tabulārius was the keeper of the archives.^[8]

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
6. ^ 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
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press