historia Latin · revision 2758

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=grc ἵστωρ}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [hɪsˈtɔ.ri.a]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [isˈtɔː.ri.a]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''historia''' ''f'' (genitive historiae); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+ Medieval spellings include ''istoria'', ''storia'' and ''hystoria''.^(Wiktionary)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|grc|ἱστορία|tr=historía|t=inquiry; narrative of what is learnt]], from [[grc|ἱστορέω|tr=historéō|t=to inquire, learn by research]], from [[grc|ἵστωρ|tr=hístōr|t=one who knows, a judge]].^(Wiktionary)^(OLD 2012)^(Saalfeld 1874)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Servius and Isidore of Seville explained the Greek word as “to see or know”, since the ancients only wrote the history of what they had seen.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Köbler dates it from Plautus,^(Köbler 2010) in whose ''Menaechmi'' a character says they may as well go home “unless we mean to write a [[m|en|history]]”, while ''satis historiarum est'' means “enough of stories”.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It kept the Greek sense of inquiry or research, as in Cicero's remark that Chrysippus was curious “in all research”, and so meant an account of investigations, the ''historia naturalis'' of Pliny, and the points of knowledge a grammarian expounds.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913) Its main sense was a written account of past events and the writing of history, whose first law, Cicero says, is to dare say nothing false; he calls Herodotus the father of history and history itself “the witness of time, the light of truth, the life of memory, the teacher of life”.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Rhetoricians distinguished ''historia'', a narrative of real events, from ''fabula'' and ''argumentum'', and in Plautus already it meant simply a [[m|en|story]].^(OLD 2012)

+

+ Medieval writers used it for the literal sense of Scripture as opposed to allegory, for the historical books of the Old Testament read in church and, by extension, for the Bible, for a rhymed office of the Hours, and for a picture or design.^(Niermeyer 1976)^(Köbler 2010) In England a narrative frieze on a wall gave the word the sense of a storey of a building, ''historia clara'' being the upper storey or clerestory, whence English [[m|en|storey]].^(Wiktionary)^(Köbler 2010) Neo-Latin writers use it for a field of knowledge.^(Ramminger) It survives as French ''histoire'' and Italian ''storia'', and Old French ''estoire'' and ''historie'' carried it on into English.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of writing history and of stories.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of a written history.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero states the first law of history and calls history the teacher of life.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian classes ''historia'' among the kinds of narrative.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 165 AD – Gellius uses it of knowledge gained from books.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 639–709 AD – Aldhelm uses it of Pliny's natural history.^(MLW)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 13th century – In England it means a storey of a building.^(Köbler 2010)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # Inquiry, research, and an account of investigations, a description, or in the plural points of knowledge.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)

+ # A written account of past events, a [[m|en|history]]; the writing of history.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(rhetoric)'' A narrative of real events.^(OLD 2012)

+ # The recorded knowledge of the past.^(OLD 2012)

+ # A [[m|en|story]], a narrative.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' The literal sense of Scripture; the historical books of the Old Testament; a rhymed office.^(Niermeyer 1976)^(Köbler 2010)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A picture, a design; a narrative frieze; a [[m|en|storey]] of a building.^(Niermeyer 1976)^(Wiktionary)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[historialis]]

+ * [[historicus]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|history]]

+ * [[en|story]]

+ * [[en|storey]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Döderlein, following Isidore, distinguishes ''historiae'', the history of the author's own times, from [[annales|alt=annālēs]], a history of former ages compiled from documents.^(Döderlein 1874)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}