Etymologically
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trutina

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Forms

trutina f (genitive trutinae); first declension[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek τρυτάνη (trutánē, “balance, tongue of a balance”),[2][1][3] an early borrowing that shows the weakening of the vowel of the middle syllable.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Conte finds it first in Cato's book on farming,[4] though Köbler dates it from Varro.[5]

Semantic evolution

It was a balance, a pair of scales:[2][6] Varro writes that payments used to be made by the balance and that the temple of Saturn still kept one for weighing, and Vitruvius equates it with the steelyard, statera.[7][6] A scholiast on Persius uses it of the tongue of a balance.[7]

Figuratively it was a standard of judgement:[6] Cicero contrasts the goldsmith's fine scales with a popular balance, Horace says that Roman writers are all weighed on the same balance, and Juvenal has a woman hang Homer in the other pan.[6][4] From it came the verbs trutinor and trutinō, to weigh up.[6]

Medieval writers used it for scales, often figuratively, and for the constellation Libra;[8] Aldhelm wrote a riddle on it.[8] Old English glosses render it with words for scales and the beam of a balance.[8][5]

Timeline

  • 234–149 BC – Cato uses it in his book on farming.[4][5]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of payments made by the balance.[7][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it figuratively of a popular balance.[6][5]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of weighing writers.[6][5]
  • 639–709 AD – Aldhelm writes a riddle on it.[8][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A balance, pair of scales.[2][6]
  2. The tongue of a balance.[7]
  3. (figurative) A standard of judgement.[6][4]
  4. (Medieval Latin) The constellation Libra.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
  4. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  8. ^ a b c d e 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