crusta Latin · revision 34298

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=inherited|attested=96–55 BC, Lucretius|origins=ine-pro *krus-to-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈkrʊs.ta]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈkrus.ta]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''crusta''' ''f'' (genitive crustae); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|itc-pro|*krusto-|t=hardened]], [[inh|ine-pro|*krus-to-|t=crushed, pounded]].^(de Vaan 2008) De Vaan connects it with the root [[m|ine-pro|*krus-|t=to thrust, pound]], since a crust can be thought of as the part that has been hardened by pounding.^(de Vaan 2008) Cognate with [[lt|krùšti|t=to crush]] and [[grc|κρούω|tr=kroúō|t=to strike, smite]]; [[osc|krustatar]], an Oscan word of unknown meaning, may also belong here.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ The older explanation links it with Greek [[m|grc|κρύος|tr=krúos|t=frost]] and [[m|grc|κρύσταλλος|tr=krústallos|t=ice]],^(OLD 2012)^(TLL) and Wiktionary derives it from [[m|ine-pro|*krews-|t=to form a crust, begin to freeze]].^(Wiktionary) De Vaan reports that Beekes rejects the link with the Greek words for frost and ice, because nothing shows that the Latin word first referred to ice or cold, and he calls the place of the Germanic words, such as [[ang|hrūse|t=earth, soil]], uncertain.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan and Köbler record it first in Lucretius,^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) who writes of soft mud hardening into crusts (''mollis luti concrescere crustas'').^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Its basic sense is a hard coating or surface layer, a crust.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Virgil uses it for sudden crusts of ice on a running river,^(Conte 2010) and Pliny the Elder for the hard covering of shellfish and sea urchins and the husk of acorns;^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010) in Celsus it is the scab on an ulcer.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ From a surface layer it came to mean a thin leaf or flake of stone, and in Vitruvius a thin slab of marble laid over a wall as panelling.^(OLD 2012) In Cicero's speeches against Verres the ''crustae'' are embossed outer casings of precious metal on drinking vessels, which were stripped off together with the ''emblemata''.^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010)

+

+ It passed into [[it|crosta]],^(Conte 2010) and into English, partly through French, as [[m|en|crust]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of mud hardening into crusts.^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of embossed casings on silver vessels.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of crusts of ice.^(Conte 2010)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of flakes of stone and marble panels.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 14–37 AD – Celsus uses it of a scab.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of shells and husks.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * early 14th century – English takes it as [[m|en|crust]], the hard outer part of bread.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A hard coating or surface layer, a [[m|en|crust]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The hard outer covering of shellfish, insects and some fruits, a [[m|en|shell]] or husk.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(medicine)'' A [[m|en|scab]] on an ulcer.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # A thin leaf or [[m|en|flake]] of a mineral.^(OLD 2012)

+ # A thin slab of [[m|en|marble]] used as wall panelling; plaster or [[m|en|stucco]] work.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # An embossed outer casing of precious metal on a drinking vessel.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[crustārius]]

+ * [[crustō]]

+ * [[crustōsus]]

+ * [[crustula]]

+ * [[crustum]]

+ * [[crustulum]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|crust]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}