trabea

Forms

trabea f (genitive trabeae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is perhaps from Latin trabs (“beam”),^[2][3] with reference to the horizontal stripes of red or purple that decorated the garment.^[1][4] De Vaan traces that noun to Proto-Italic *trab- (“wooden beam”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's earliest source is Virgil,^[3] who has it as the robe of kings in the Aeneid.^[4][6]

Semantic evolution

The OLD describes it as a short purple or partly purple garment of Etruscan origin, worn on certain ritual occasions and by the equitēs as a dress uniform.^[2] Georges describes a white mantle with scarlet horizontal stripes and a purple hem, worn by kings in Virgil, Ovid and Livy, by knights in solemn processions, by augurs, and by consuls;^[4] Suetonius, as reported by Servius, distinguished three kinds.^[4][6] By metonymy it stands for the equestrian order in Statius and Martial, and for the consulship in Claudian and Symmachus.^[4][6] Isidore of Seville also describes it.^[4] In Ecclesiastical Latin it is a robe or official robe,^[7] and medieval writers in Britain use it of a robe of state, also figuratively.^[8]

Timeline

• 70–19 BC – Virgil has it as a royal robe.^[3][4]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it in the Fasti.^[4][3]
• c. 45–96 AD – Statius uses it for the equestrian order.^[4][3]
• c. 340–402 AD – Symmachus uses it for the consulship.^[4][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A short purple or purple-striped robe of state, worn by early kings, augurs, consuls and, as a dress uniform, by the equitēs.^[2][4][6]
2. (by metonymy) The equestrian order.^[4][6]
3. (by metonymy) The consulship.^[4][6]
4. (Late Latin, Medieval Latin) The ornamental dress of consuls; a robe of state.^[1][8]

Word family

• trabealis
• trabeātus

Related words

• trabs

Usage notes

Trabea is also the name of Quintus Trabea, a writer of comedies on Greek subjects, a contemporary of Caecilius whom Cicero mentions.^[2][6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
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