aulaeum Latin · revision 33997

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 180–102 BC, Lucilius|origins=grc αὐλαία}}

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''aulaeum''' ''n'' (genitive aulaeī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+ It is also spelled ''auleum''.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|grc|αὐλαία|tr=aulaía|t=curtain]], remade in Latin.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Wiktionary) Köbler connects the Greek word with [[m|grc|αὐλή|tr=aulḗ|t=courtyard, hall]].^(Köbler 2010) Servius explained the name from the hall of Attalus, where large curtains were said to have first been made.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The OLD's first citation is Lucilius, who has a call to draw the curtains.^(OLD 2012) Köbler dates it from Cicero.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In the plural it is curtains, hangings or tapestries:^(OLD 2012) Varro calls it a foreign kind of cloth, Sallust has a house adorned with hangings, and Virgil's queen takes her place among proud hangings.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(OLD 2012) Juvenal uses it ironically of a gaudy toga.^(OLD 2012) In the theatre it is the curtain, which was lowered to reveal the stage and raised at the end:^(OLD 2012) Cicero has ''aulaeum tollitur'' at the end of a play, Horace a curtain kept down for four hours or more, and Phaedrus and Apuleius the curtain let down.^(OLD 2012) Apuleius also speaks figuratively of drawing aside the tragic curtain and speaking plainly.^(OLD 2012) Stelten gives "hanging, canopy, curtain" for Church Latin.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius of curtains.^(OLD 2012)

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro of a foreign cloth.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(OLD 2012)

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

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil of hangings.^(OLD 2012)

+ * 65–8 BC – Horace of a performance of four hours or more.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The [[m|en|curtain]] of a theatre.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(plural)'' Curtains, hangings, [[m|en|tapestry|alt=tapestries]]; a canopy.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[aula]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}