tensa

Forms

tēnsa f (genitive tēnsae); first declension^[1] Also spelled thēnsa.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is probably from Latin teneō (“to hold”): de Vaan lists it among the derivatives of that verb,^[4] while the OLD tentatively connects it with tendō (“to stretch”).^[2][5] Wiktionary reconstructs Proto-Italic *ten-s-ā.^[1] Both verbs continue the root Proto-Indo-European *ten- (“to stretch”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler record it first in the comic poet Titinius,^[4][5] who uses it of a carriage in general: vende tensam atque mulos, “sell the carriage and the mules”.^[6][3]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it is the sacred wagon on which the images of the gods were drawn in procession to the games of the Circus.^[2][7][6] Festus, quoting Sinnius Capito, describes it as the vehicle that carried the emblems of the gods to their couch in the Circus, and notes that one in Titinius was of ivory, others of silver.^[7] Cicero speaks of the street of the tensae and the procession,^[6][8] and Livy and Suetonius use it with verbs of leading or escorting.^[6] A Greek–Latin glossary renders it “chariot of the gods”.^[7] In Medieval Latin the same spelling also stands for a tent, as a form of tenda, and for a payment due to a lord for protection.^[9]

Timeline

• end of 2nd/beginning of 1st century BC – Titinius uses it of a carriage.^[4][5][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero names the street of the tensae in the Verrine speeches.^[8][6][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy has tensās dūcere.^[6][8][5]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius has tensās dēdūcere.^[6][5]
• after 1031 – Helgaud's life of King Robert of France gives the size of a building in tensae, a length measure.^[9][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A sacred carriage on which the images of the gods were carried in procession to the Circus games.^[2][7][3]
2. A wagon in general.^[6][3]
3. (Medieval Latin) A toise, a measure of length; a fixed quantity of candles.^[10][9]

Word family

• tensārium

Related words

• teneō

Usage notes

Niermeyer derives the medieval measure tensa (also tesa, teisa, toisa) from tendō.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
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 f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
9. ^ a b c du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
10. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill