tertiarius

Forms

tertiārius (feminine tertiāria, neuter tertiārium); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin tertius + -ārius.^[2][1] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of trēs (“three”);^[3] tertius (“third”) goes back to Proto-Italic *tritio- (“third”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cato (234–149 BC) has it first, as a noun meaning a third part, in a recipe that calls for a third of bitumen and a quarter of sulphur.^[2][4][3][5]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it meant “containing a third part”: Vitruvius uses it in arithmetic and of a third part of a measure,^[2] and Pliny the Elder calls tertiarium a solder of two parts of black lead to one of white.^[2][4] In Petronius a tertiarius is a gladiator brought in to replace one killed earlier.^[2]

Medieval Latin used the noun for a dependant liable to two days of labour service a week and for a tenant who paid a third of the crop;^[6] Du Cange adds a collector of the tierce, a sufferer from tertian fever and a member of a Third Order of laypeople living under a religious rule.^[7][1] English tertiary comes from it.^[8]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it for a third part of an ingredient.^[2][5]
• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it for a number containing one and a third of another.^[2][5]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of an alloy of one part to two.^[2][5]
• before 66 AD – Petronius uses it for a substitute gladiator.^[2][5]
• 1251 – A charter from Carcassonne uses it for a render of a third of the crop.^[7]
• 1650s – English tertiary is recorded, from this word.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Containing a third part;^[2][4] (of an alloy) of one part to two.^[2][4]
2. (Medieval Latin) Belonging to a Third Order of laypeople.^[1][7]

Noun

1. A third part of anything; a third of a sextārius.^[2][4]
2. A gladiator taking the place of one already killed.^[2]
3. (Medieval Latin) A dependant owing two days of labour service a week; a tenant paying a third of the crop.^[6]
4. (Medieval Latin) A member of a Third Order, a tertiary.^[7][1]
5. (Medieval Latin) One suffering from tertian fever.^[7][5]

Related words

• tertius
• trēs
• English tertiary

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g 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 de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ a b c d e du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com