essedum Latin · revision 33866

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 50 BC, Caesar|origins=xtg *ensedon}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈɛs.sɛ.dũː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈɛs.se.dum]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''essedum''' ''n'' (genitive essedī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+ A first-declension feminine ''esseda'' also occurs.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a Gaulish word, [[bor|xtg|*ensedon]], apparently made from the equivalents of “in” and “sit”, as the OLD and Köbler give it;^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)^(TLL) Köbler links its parts to [[ine-pro|*en|t=in]] and [[ine-pro|*sed-|t=to sit]].^(Köbler 2010) Wiktionary instead derives it from a Gaulish form with the prefix ⟨*eks-⟩ and compares [[obt|assedam]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLL finds it first in Cicero and Caesar;^(TLL) Caesar describes how the Britons fought from these chariots, leaping down to fight on foot.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It was a war chariot of the Gauls, Britons and Belgae,^(OLD 2012)^(TLL) which the Romans took over, apparently in Cicero's time, as a light travelling carriage;^(OLD 2012)^(TLL) later writers use it of any carriage.^(TLL) A first-declension form ''esseda'' appears in Seneca.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL) Niermeyer glosses it “chariot, waggon”,^(Niermeyer 1976) and in British Medieval Latin Aldhelm uses it of the constellation of the Wain.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 50 BC – Caesar, of British war chariots.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca has the feminine ''esseda''.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A two-wheeled war [[m|en|chariot]] of the Gauls and Britons.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A light travelling [[m|en|carriage]] modelled on it; any carriage.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin, astronomy)'' The Wain.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[esseda]]

+ * [[essedārius]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}