tunicatus

Forms

tunicātus (feminine tunicāta, neuter tunicātum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin tunica (“tunic”) + -ātus;^[2][3] Wiktionary takes it as the perfect participle of the verb tunicō (“to clothe with a tunic”).^[1][4] The noun tunica is probably of Semitic origin, like Ancient Greek χιτών (khitṓn, “tunic”);^[2][1] the OLD compares Biblical Hebrew כֻּתֹּנֶת (kuttṓnĕṯ, “tunic”).^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler and the OLD record it first in Ennius' Annales, which speak of a tunicata iuventus, youth dressed in tunics.^[3][2][5]

Semantic evolution

It means wearing a tunic, usually without a toga or outer garment.^[2] Cicero speaks of exercise and games on the Campus in tunics, Ovid has a girl standing in her tunic, and Pliny the Elder mentions a statue of Hercules tunicatus, which the OLD explains as wearing the shirt of Nessus.^[2] It was said of the poorer people of Rome, who did not normally wear the toga: Cicero calls them tunicati, Horace has tunicatus popellus and Tacitus tunicatus hic populus.^[2][6][5] Juvenal and Suetonius use it of the net-fighters, who fought without armour, and Martial of the ease of country life, tunicata quies.^[2] Persius applies it to an onion wrapped in its skins.^[2][5] Sidonius contrasts the tunicati with the paludati, men in military cloaks.^[6] In medieval Britain it was used of monastic and ecclesiastical dress, of subdeacons in tunicles, of armour, and of a bean in its skin.^[7] English took it over as tunicate in the 18th century, first of things covered with layers.^[4]

Timeline

• 204–169 BC – Ennius has tunicata iuventus.^[2][3]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of exercise in tunics and of the poor.^[2][3]
• 65–8 BC – Horace has tunicatus popellus.^[2][3]
• 34–62 AD – Persius uses it of an onion.^[2][3]
• c. 431–486 AD – Sidonius contrasts the tunicati with the paludati.^[6][3]
• 1760 – English borrows it as tunicate.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Wearing a tunic, usually without a toga or outer garment.^[2][6][5]
2. Of the poorer classes at Rome, who did not wear the toga; as a plural noun, the common people.^[2][6][5]
3. Covered with protective layers, as an onion with its skins.^[2][6][5]
4. (Medieval Latin) Wearing a tunicle or monastic habit.^[7]

Related words

• tunica
• English tunicate

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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 c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ 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