trapezita

Forms

trapezīta m (genitive trapezītae); first declension^[1] Also tarpezīta, the form the OLD enters, and tarpessīta.^[2][1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek τραπεζίτης (trapezítēs, “money-changer, banker”),^[2][1][3] from τράπεζα (trápeza, “table”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has it first,^[3] in the Captivi, Curculio, Epidicus and Trinummus.^[1]

Semantic evolution

It is a money-changer or banker, a Greek word that Lewis & Short set beside the Latin argentārius.^[1][2] In medieval Latin it can also be a minter of coins.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, of bankers.^[1][3]
• Medieval Latin – A minter.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A money-changer, banker.^[2][1][4]
2. (Medieval Latin) A minter.^[4]

Related words

• argentārius
• mēnsārius

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill