toga

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈtɔ.ɡa]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈtɔː.ɡa]^[1]

Forms

toga f (genitive togae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *togā, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *togéh₂ (“cover”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)teg- (“to cover”), the root of tegō.^[1][2] The OLD and Lewis & Short connect it with tegō.^[3][4] Isidore of Seville derived the name from the garment covering the body.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The comic poet Titinius uses it in the general sense of clothing, a country garment.^[3][6] Köbler dates Titinius to the end of the 2nd or start of the 1st century BC.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Early on it was any covering: Varro says that the toga was once worn by day and night by men and women alike, and the grammarian Nonius records the sense of a roof.^[4][7] In Classical times it was the formal outer garment of freeborn Roman men, a roughly semicircular woollen cloth.^[3] The plain white toga virilis was taken by young men coming of age, the purple-bordered toga praetexta by magistrates and priests, the embroidered toga picta by triumphing generals, the chalked toga candida by candidates for office, and a dark one in mourning.^[3][3] Prostitutes wore it, as the stola was denied to them.^[3]

The toga stood for peace and civilian life, as in Cicero's line cedant arma togae “let arms yield to the toga”, and for Roman citizenship.^[3][5] In medieval British Latin it was a robe or gown.^[8] English borrowed the word around 1600 for the Roman garment.^[9]

Timeline

• end of the 2nd century BC – Titinius uses it of a country garment.^[3][2]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero writes cedant arma togae.^[3][2]
• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville explains the name from covering the body.^[5][2]
• c. 1600 – Borrowed into English as toga.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. In general, clothing, a covering; a roof.^[3][4]
2. The toga, the formal outer garment of freeborn Roman men.^[3][7]
3. With adjectives, special kinds of toga: toga virilis (of manhood), toga praetexta (with a purple border), toga picta (of a triumphing general), toga candida (of a candidate).^[3]
4. Figuratively, peace, civilian life, public speaking in the courts.^[3][1]
5. The Roman nation or character.^[3]
6. (Medieval Latin) A robe, gown.^[8]

Word family

• togālis
• togātus
• togula
• epitogium
• togāta
• togātārius
• togātulus

Related words

• tegō
• tectum
• English toga

Usage notes

Isidore notes that Romans wore the toga in peace and the military cloak in war.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
6. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
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. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com