testudo

Forms

testūdō f (genitive testūdinis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from testū (“earthenware pot”) or testa (“pot, shell”), with the ending of hirūdō (“leech”).^[2][3] Varro already connected it with ⟨testa⟩.^[2] De Vaan lists it under ⟨testa⟩, which he takes to be probably a loanword, as words for vessels often are; a derivation from Proto-Indo-European *teḱ- (“to build”) is unlikely.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis and Short cite it first from Pacuvius, quoted by Cicero;^[5] de Vaan and Köbler date it from Lucilius, and Plautus already has the adjective testūdineus (“of tortoise-shell”).^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

It is the tortoise or turtle: Cicero describes turtles burying their eggs on land.^[2] Its shell served as the sounding board of the lyre, so that it also meant the lyre, as when Virgil's Orpheus consoles his love with the hollow shell; tortoiseshell was also a material for overlaying couches.^[2] In war it was the “tortoise” of troops locking their shields over their heads, as in Caesar, and a movable wooden shed for siege work, already in Lucilius.^[2] In building it was a roof of four sides meeting at a point, or a vault, and in Vitruvius part of a bath's heating system.^[2][1]

Church Latin glosses it “tortoise”.^[6]

Timeline

• 220–130 BC – Pacuvius of a tortoise.^[5][3]
• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius of a siege shed.^[2][3]
• 120–67 BC – Sisenna of a roof.^[2][3]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar of the shield formation.^[2][3]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil of the lyre.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A tortoise or turtle.^[2][5][1][6]
2. Tortoiseshell; a lyre; the shell of other creatures.^[2][1]
3. (military) A screen of locked shields; a movable shed for siege work.^[2][1]
4. (architecture) A roof with four sloping sides; a vault; part of a bath's heating.^[2][1]

Word family

• testūdinātus
• testūdineus
• testūdineātus

Related words

• testa
• testāceus
• testātim
• testeus
• testū
• testuātium
• testula

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson