serra Latin · revision 34314

+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|formation=inherited|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=ine-pro *sers-h2-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈsɛr.ra]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈsɛr.ra]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''serra''' ''f'' (genitive serrae); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The origin is uncertain.^(OLD 2012)^(Etymonline) De Vaan's tentative reconstruction makes it [[inh|itc-pro|*sersā-|t=saw]], [[inh|ine-pro|*sers-h2-|t=cutting off]]; within Latin the best connection he sees is with [[m|la|sāriō|t=to hoe, weed]], which would point to a root [[m|ine-pro|*srs-]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(Etymonline) Köbler leaves it unexplained,^(Köbler 2010) and Lewis and Short thought it might stand for an older form of [[m|la|secō|t=to cut]].^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ Wiktionary compares a Celtic word for a sickle or billhook, but of a different origin.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan and Köbler find it first in Plautus,^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) in a fragment about cutting off limbs with a saw.^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The saw is its ordinary sense: Lucretius has a screeching saw, Cicero the noise of a saw, and Ovid tells of its invention.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Varro has the proverb ''serram dūcere cum aliquō'', to draw the saw with someone, that is, to quarrel with them, which Tertullian echoes.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)^(Conte 2010)

+

+ By likeness it named a fish, perhaps the [[m|en|sawfish]], in Pliny the Elder,^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913) and a battle formation in Cato's treatise on warfare, which Festus explains as advancing and falling back without stopping.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Conte 2010) Jerome and the Vulgate use it of a threshing sledge with toothed wheels.^(Georges 1913)^(Conte 2010)

+

+ In medieval Latin, influenced by the verb ''serāre'', “to shut”, it came to mean a mountain ridge (compare Spanish ''sierra''), a mountain pass and a storehouse.^(Niermeyer 1976)^(Du Cange 1883) English ''sierra'', a jagged range of mountains, is from the Spanish word.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a saw.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato names a serrated battle formation with it.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro has the proverb ''serram dūcere'', to quarrel.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Conte 2010)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of a sea fish.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome uses it of a threshing sledge with toothed wheels.^(Georges 1913)^(Conte 2010)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 984 – A charter uses ''serrae'' for storehouses.^(Du Cange 1883)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1610s – English borrows Spanish ''sierra'', from this word.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|saw]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # (in the phrase ''serram dūcere cum aliquō'') To [[m|en|quarrel]] with someone.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Conte 2010)

+ # A sea fish, perhaps the [[m|en|sawfish]].^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)

+ # ''(military)'' A serrated battle [[m|en|formation]] that keeps advancing and falling back.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Conte 2010)

+ # ''(Late Latin)'' A threshing sledge with toothed wheels.^(Georges 1913)^(Conte 2010)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A mountain [[m|en|ridge]]; a mountain pass.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A [[m|en|storehouse]].^(Niermeyer 1976)^(Du Cange 1883)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[serrāgō]]

+ * [[serrālia]]

+ * [[serrārius]]

+ * [[serrō]]

+ * [[serrula]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[serrābilis]]

+ * [[serrātim]]

+ * [[serrātōrius]]

+ * [[serrātūra]]

+ * [[serrātus]]

+ * [[sāriō]]

+ * [[en|sierra]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Du Cange also records medieval ''serra'' for [[sera]], the bar that shuts a door, and for a sickle.^(Du Cange 1883)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}