turris

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈtʊr.rɪs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈtur.ris]^[1]

Forms

turris f (genitive turris); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek τύρρις (túrrhis, “tower”), also ⟨τύρσις⟩, the OLD comparing Oscan tiurrí.^[2][1] The Greek word is probably itself a loan from a Mediterranean language.^[1][3] Wiktionary compares the name Ancient Greek Τυρρηνός (Turrhēnós, “Etruscan”).^[1] The accusative is ⟨turrim⟩ or ⟨turrem⟩, the ablative ⟨turrī⟩ or ⟨turre⟩.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is from Accius, of a tower.^[2] Köbler's first source is Plautus, whom he dates c. 250–184 BC.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It meant a tower, part of a building or standing alone, and in Ovid a dovecote.^[2][4] In war it was a wooden tower for missiles, rolled against a town or set on walls, as in Caesar, or on ships, as in Livy.^[2][5] In Varro it meant the castle on an elephant's back, and in Cato a square formation of troops.^[2]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant a tower or tabernacle.^[6] Medieval Latin used it for a keep, a fortified house in a city, and a tower-shaped pyx.^[7] It survives in Italian, Spanish and Portuguese torre and French tour, and Old English borrowed it as torr, whence English tower.^[1][8]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a tower.^[3][4]
• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of a square formation of troops.^[2][3]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it of siege towers.^[2][3]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of towers on ships.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A tower; a dovecote.^[2]
2. (military) A wooden siege or defence tower.^[2]
3. The castle on an elephant's back, a howdah.^[2]
4. A square battle formation.^[2]
5. (Medieval Latin) A keep; a fortified town house; a tower-shaped pyx.^[7]

Word family

• turricula
• turrifer
• turriger
• turrītus
• interturrium

Related words

• English tower
• English turret

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com