palaestra Latin · revision 32824

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

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [paˈɫae̯s.tra]^(Wiktionary)

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

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''palaestra''' ''f'' (genitive palaestrae); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|grc|παλαίστρα|tr=palaístra|t=wrestling school]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Köbler 2010) Köbler relates the Greek word to [[m|grc|παλαίω|tr=palaíō|t=to wrestle]], whose further origin is unclear.^(Köbler 2010) Servius derived it from the Greek words for wrestling or for brandishing.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Köbler dates it from Plautus.^(Köbler 2010) In the OLD's earliest quotation Plautus names the palaestra beside the forum.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is a wrestling place, with a floor surrounded by changing rooms, and Lewis & Short describe youths exercising there naked and anointed with oil.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) It is also the exercise of the palaestra: Terence has someone tested in letters, in the palaestra and in music.^(OLD 2012) Figuratively it is adroitness: Cicero will use the skill he learned from a friend to satisfy everyone.^(OLD 2012) Wiktionary also gives rhetorical exercise or a school of rhetoric, and in comedy a brothel.^(Wiktionary) Church Latin glosses it gymnasium, school.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of the palaestra and the forum.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 190–159 BC – Terence of exercise in the palaestra.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero of adroitness.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|wrestling]] school, place of exercise, [[m|en|gymnasium]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # Wrestling, the exercises of the palaestra.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Figuratively, adroitness, skill; rhetorical exercise.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # In comedy, a [[m|en|brothel]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[palaestricus]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[palaestēs]]

+ * [[palaestrica]]

+ * [[palaestricē]]

+ * [[palaestricōs]]

+ * [[palaestrīta]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Palaestra'' is also a woman's name, a character in Plautus' ''Rudens''.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}