Etymologically
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testudineus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [tɛs.tuːˈdɪ.ne.ʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [tes.tuˈdiː.ne.us][1]

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]

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.