tau

Forms

tau n (indeclinable); also spelled thau.^[1][2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ταῦ (taû, “tau”), the name of the Greek letter.^[3][1][2] Köbler traces the Greek name itself to a Semitic source.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest instance is in a poem of the Catalepton ascribed to Virgil and quoted by Quintilian.^[1][2] The OLD takes it there as the letter, used apparently with reference to a Celtic speaker's mispronunciation of /st/ between vowels;^[3] L&S and Georges take it as a Celtic word.^[1][2]

Semantic evolution

Ausonius uses it as the name of the Greek letter T in his poems on the letters.^[1][2] For Tertullian the letter was a sign of the cross,^[2][5] and the Vulgate has it, also spelled thau, for the mark set on the foreheads of the mourners in Ezekiel: et signa thau super frontes virorum gementium (“and mark a tau on the foreheads of the men who groan”).^[1][2] In Ecclesiastical Latin it is also the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian quotes the Catalepton line with tau.^[1][2][4]
• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian takes the letter as a sign of the cross.^[2][5][4]
• c. 310–394 AD – Ausonius names the Greek letter.^[1][2][4]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses thau for the mark on the foreheads in Ezekiel.^[1][2][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The Greek letter tau (Τ, τ).^[3][1][2]
2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) The letter as a sign of the cross; a mark in that shape.^[2][5]
3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) The last letter of the Hebrew alphabet.^[6]

Usage notes

Georges and Gaffiot give the Catalepton word a separate entry, as a Celtic word;^[2][5][1] Georges equates it with tabum “putrid matter”, while L&S calls its meaning unknown.^[2][5][1] The OLD has a single entry for the letter.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson