testudineus

Forms

testūdineus (feminine testūdinea, neuter testūdineum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin testūdō (“tortoise”) + -eus.^[2][1][3] De Vaan lists both words among the derivatives of testa (“earthenware vessel, shell”), which he takes to be probably a loanword.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus on.^[4][5] In the Aulularia a character threatens to quicken someone's “tortoise pace” (testudineum istum tibi ego grandibo gradum).^[2][6][7]

Semantic evolution

Besides “like a tortoise”, it meant “made of or inlaid with tortoiseshell”.^[2][6] Varro has a tortoiseshell couch with a feather cushion,^[2][3] Propertius and the Tibullan corpus a lyre,^[2][6] and Martial, Juvenal and Pliny the Elder other furniture.^[2][6] In the Digest Javolenus uses the neuter plural testudinea as a noun for tortoiseshell furniture left in a legacy.^[2][3]

In British medieval Latin William of Malmesbury still has the tortoise's gait, and Joseph of Exeter uses it of the testudo, the screen of shields.^[8] English testudineous was borrowed from it.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a tortoise's pace.^[2][5]
• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of a couch inlaid with tortoiseshell.^[2][5]
• 57/46–12 BC – Propertius uses it of a lyre.^[2][5]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of tortoiseshell furniture.^[2][5]
• 2nd half of the 1st century AD – Javolenus uses the neuter plural for tortoiseshell furniture.^[2][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or like a tortoise.^[2][6]
2. Made of or inlaid with tortoiseshell.^[2][6]
3. (neuter plural as noun) Tortoiseshell furniture or objects.^[2][9]
4. (Medieval Latin, military) Of a testūdō, a screen of shields.^[8]

Related words

• testa
• testū
• testūdineātus
• testūdō

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ 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
9. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.