contignatio Latin · revision 34252

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 50 BC, Caesar|origins=la tignum}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [kɔn.tɪŋˈnaː.ti.oː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [kon.tiɲˈɲat.t͡si.o]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''contignātiō''' ''f'' (genitive contignātiōnis); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|contignō|-tiō|t1=to furnish with a structure of joists]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(TLL) A Latin glossary explains it as a joining of beams, a beam being called [[m|la|tignum]].^(TLL) De Vaan traces that noun to [[itc-pro|*teg/k-no-|t=plank, timber]] and thinks it more likely to come from [[ine-pro|*(s)teg-|t=to cover]], the root of [[m|la|tēctum|t=roof]] and [[m|la|tēgula|t=roof tile]], than from a root meaning “to fashion”.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Köbler and Lewis and Short record it first in Caesar,^(Köbler 2010)^(Lewis & Short 1879) who describes two beams laid across to hold up the ''contignatio'' that was to serve as the roof of a tower, and a mound of a new kind made of two brick walls joined by a timber floor.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The OLD defines it as a term of architecture: a horizontal structure of joists and boards forming a roof or the floor of an upper storey, hence a storey.^(OLD 2012) The ''Bellum Alexandrinum'' says that the buildings of Alexandria are without timber floors, and Livy reports as a prodigy that an ox in the cattle market climbed to the third storey of its own accord.^(TLL)^(Georges 1913) Vitruvius uses it often, of how many floors a brick wall can carry and of the floors of basilicas and porticoes;^(TLL)^(Georges 1913) Pliny the Elder speaks of the roof timbers of old temples.^(TLL)^(Georges 1913) Columella, Palladius, the jurists and Ammianus Marcellinus also use it, and in the Vulgate it renders the Greek word for the roofing of houses.^(TLL) In Ecclesiastical Latin it means woodwork.^(Stelten 1995) Medieval writers in Britain use it for flooring and an upper storey.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it of the timber floor or roof of siege works.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it often of floors and storeys.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 59 BC–17 AD – Livy tells of an ox that climbed to the third storey.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it of the roofing of houses.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A structure of [[m|en|joist|alt=joists]] and boards forming a roof or the [[m|en|floor]] of an upper storey; flooring.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # A [[m|en|storey]], floor.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+ # ''(Ecclesiastical Latin)'' [[m|en|woodwork|alt=Woodwork]].^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[tigillum]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}