Etymologically
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turris

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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
  • 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