turritus Latin · revision 33439

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=96–55 BC, Lucretius|origins=grc τύρρις}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [tʊrˈriː.tʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [turˈriː.tus]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''turrītus''' (feminine turrīta, neuter turrītum); first/second-declension adjective^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|turris|-ītus|t1=tower]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Georges 1913) The noun [[m|la|turris]] is a loan of [[grc|τύρρις|tr=túrrhis]] or its variant [[m|grc|τύρσις|tr=túrsis]];^(OLD 2012)^(Saalfeld 1874)^(Wiktionary) the OLD compares [[osc|tiurrí]].^(OLD 2012) Wiktionary considers the Greek word itself probably a Mediterranean substrate word.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The earliest quotation in the OLD is from Lucretius, who calls elephants ''turrītō corpore'', “with a tower-bearing body”, of the castles they carried in war.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Classical Latin, mostly in poetry, it describes walls, towns, siege works and ships furnished with towers,^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Conte 2010) and elephants carrying a howdah, as in the ''Bellum Africum'' and Pliny the Elder.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016) As an epithet of the goddess Cybele it means wearing a crown of towers, in Virgil, Propertius and Ovid,^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) and Silius applies it to a man wearing the mural crown.^(OLD 2012) It is also used of things shaped like a tower or towering high, such as cliffs in Virgil and a lofty headdress in Lucan,^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913) and in Christian writers of a towering head.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) Medieval writers used it of ships carrying castles and of towered towns.^(Niermeyer 1976)^(DMLBS) It survives in [[it|turrito]].^(Conte 2010)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of elephants bearing towers.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil calls Cybele ''turrīta'' and uses it of towering cliffs.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 39–65 AD – Lucan uses it of a tower-shaped headdress.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 348/49–c. 413 AD – Prudentius uses it of a towering head.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * Medieval Latin – Used of ships carrying castles.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Furnished or [[m|en|fortify|alt=fortified]] with towers, [[m|en|turreted]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # Of Cybele and others, wearing a crown of towers.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # Of an elephant, bearing a [[m|en|howdah]] or castle.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016)

+ # Shaped like a tower, [[m|en|towering]], lofty.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' Of a ship, carrying castles.^(Niermeyer 1976)^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[turris]]

+ * [[turriger]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}