argentaria Latin · revision 34392

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=ine-pro *h₂rǵ-nt-o-}}

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''argentāria''' ''f'' (genitive argentāriae); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[der|la|argentārius|t=of silver; of money]], the adjective used as a feminine noun, with [[m|la|taberna|t=shop]] understood for a bank and [[m|la|ars|t=craft]] for the banker's trade.^(TLL)^(Georges 1913) The adjective is made from [[m|la|argentum|t=silver; money]],^(Bianchi & Lelli 2014)^(Köbler 2010) which goes back to [[itc-pro|*argento-]] and [[ine-pro|*h₂rǵ-nt-o-|t=silver]].^(de Vaan 2008) De Vaan compares [[sga|argat|t=silver]] and [[sa|रजत|tr=rajatá-|t=silver-coloured; silver]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The OLD's earliest example is in Plautus,^(OLD 2012) where the ''Epidicus'' names the perfume shops, the butchers' stalls and the banks (''circumque argentāriās'', “and around the banks”).^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Its first sense is a banker's shop: in Plautus prostitutes and pimps sit around the banks every day, and Livy tells of gilded shields shared out among the owners of the banks to decorate the [[m|en|forum]] and of a basilica built behind the new banks.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL) Cicero uses it for the business of a banker, of a man who ran a large bank and of a bank that was wound up,^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016) and Ulpian of a slave who keeps a bank with his own savings.^(OLD 2012) Livy also uses it of a [[m|en|silver]] mine.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016) In medieval Latin it means a silver mine and a money-changer's office,^(Niermeyer 1976) and later the public treasury or a public exchange, as in a charter of 1287.^(Du Cange 1883)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of the bankers' shops.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the business of a banker.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 59 BC–AD 17 – Livy uses it of banks in the forum and of silver mines.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1287 – A charter uses it of the public treasury or exchange.^(Du Cange 1883)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|bank]], a banker's shop.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016)

+ # The business of a banker, [[m|en|banking]].^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016)

+ # A [[m|en|silver]] mine.^(OLD 2012)^(Niermeyer 1976)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A money-changer's office; the public treasury.^(Niermeyer 1976)^(Du Cange 1883)

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Argentāria'' was also the name of a town of the Rauraci, near Breisach,^(Georges 1913)^(Köbler 2010) and of a town in Dalmatia.^(TLL)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}