petra Latin · revision 31881

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

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈpɛ.tra], [ˈpɛt.ra]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈpɛː.tra]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''petra''' ''f'' (genitive petrae); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|grc|πέτρα|tr=pétra|t=rock]], whose further origin is unknown.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Köbler 2010) Jerome and Isidore of Seville already noted that it is Greek.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLL finds it in verse from Plautus and Ennius on;^(TLL) Ennius has “covered with huge rocks”.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is a rock, boulder or crag;^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Lewis & Short note that the pure Latin word is [[saxum]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Festus reports Aelius Gallus' two kinds, a natural rock jutting into the sea and a man-made one, the stone that fills the spaces beside an arch up to its top, of which no other example is known.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(OLD 2012) In prose it occurs from Gallus on, and Pliny the Elder uses it of gulls nesting on rocks and seaweed growing on them.^(TLL)^(Lewis & Short 1879) The Vulgate has water brought out of the rock, and Orosius calls Christ a rock set in the middle of the world.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) Church Latin glosses it “rock”,^(Stelten 1995) and in Medieval Latin it is also a measure of weight.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus in verse.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 204–169 BC – Ennius of huge rocks.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of gulls nesting on rocks.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 390–406 AD – The Vulgate of water from the rock.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|rock]], [[m|en|boulder]], [[m|en|crag]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Stelten 1995)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Shaped stone used in building.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A measure of weight.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[petrensis]]

+ * [[petreus]]

+ * [[petrinus]]

+ * [[petrōsus]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[saxum]]

+ * [[rupes|alt=rūpēs]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ As a name, ''Petra'' is the chief town of Arabia Petraea and several other places, and a hill near Dyrrachium in Caesar.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}