Etymologically
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teges

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Forms

teges f (genitive tegetis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin tegō (“to cover”) + -es.[2][1][3] Wiktionary notes the suffix ⟨-t-⟩, also found in hebes (“blunt”).[1] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *tege-t- (“covering”), from the root of ⟨tegō⟩, which goes back to Proto-Indo-European *(s)teg-e/o- (“to cover”).[4] Cognate with Ancient Greek στέγω (stégō, “to keep off, keep in”), Ancient Greek τέγος (tégos, “roof”), Old Irish teg (“house”) and Lithuanian stógas (“roof”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan, Köbler and Conte date it from a comedy of Naevius.[4][5][6]

Semantic evolution

It was a mat of rushes or similar material, used to lie on or as a covering.[2][3] Varro lists mats among the things made of hemp, flax, rush, palm and bulrush, and it occurs in Propertius, Columella, Pliny the Elder, Martial and Juvenal.[7][6] Varro also has the diminutive tegetīcula.[4]

Medieval Latin used it for a roof and for a building.[8] British writers used it for a covering or thatch, which an Old English gloss renders by a word for thatch, and for a shed or hut; glossaries also list it among words for a brothel.[9]

Timeline

  • c. 235–200 BC – Naevius uses it in a comedy.[6][5]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro lists mats made of rush and palm.[7][5]
  • 57/46–12 BC – Propertius uses it.[6][5]
  • 40–102/103 AD – Martial uses it.[7][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A mat of rushes or similar material, for lying on or as a covering.[2][7]
  2. (Medieval Latin) A roof; a building.[8]
  3. (Medieval Latin) Thatch; a shed, hut.[9]

Word family

  • tegetarius
  • tegeticula

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  9. ^ a b 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