subsellium Latin · revision 31628

19 Oct 2026, 15:54 by bogdan “Latin la10k la75t b05” current version
Initial text

@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=la sella}}
+ 
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * Classical: [sʊpˈsɛl.li.ũː]^(Wiktionary)
+ * Ecclesiastical: [subˈsɛl.li.um]^(Wiktionary)
+ 
+ ==Forms==
+ '''subsellium''' ''n'' (genitive subselliī or subsellī); second declension^(Wiktionary)
+ 
+ ==Etymology==
+ It is formed from [[sub-|t=under]] and [[sella|t=seat]] with the suffix [[m|la|-ium]], “a low seat”.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) Varro explained it as something not quite a ⟨sella⟩.^(Lewis & Short 1879) De Vaan derives ⟨sella⟩ from [[itc-pro|*sedlā|alt=*sed-lā-|t=seat]], from [[ine-pro|*sed-|t=to sit]], the root of [[sedeō]].^(de Vaan 2008)
+ 
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ The OLD's earliest example is Plautus' ''Stichus'': “I'll sit on the bench”.^(OLD 2012)
+ 
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ It is a low seat or bench, of the kind used in an auditorium: in Plautus it is the theatre bench, and by metonymy the spectators.^(OLD 2012) Cicero uses it of the senate benches, which the former consuls left empty when Catiline sat down, and of the tribunes' bench.^(OLD 2012) In the courts it was the bench of the prosecution or the defence, and in the plural the courts themselves, as Cicero's man who withdrew from the crowd and the courts into leisure.^(OLD 2012)
+ 
+ Church Latin glosses it “seat, bench, pew”.^(Stelten 1995) In Medieval Latin it also meant a mount.^(Niermeyer 1976)
+ 
+ ==Timeline==
+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of benches in the theatre.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero of the senate and the law courts.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * Medieval Latin – a mount.^(Niermeyer 1976)
+ 
+ ==Meanings==
+ ===Noun===
+ # A low seat, [[m|en|bench]], in a theatre, the senate or the tribunes' seat; the spectators.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)
+ # A bench in a [[m|en|courtroom]];^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) ''(plural)'' the courts.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)
+ # ''(Ecclesiastical Latin)'' A [[m|en|pew]].^(Stelten 1995)
+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A [[m|en|mount]].^(Niermeyer 1976)
+ 
+ ==Word family==
+ * [[subselliārium]]
+ 
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[sella]]
+ * [[sedeō]]
+ 
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}