hippodromos Latin · revision 34410

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=grc ἱππόδρομος}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [hɪpˈpɔ.drɔ.mɔs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ipˈpɔː.dro.mos]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''hippodromos''' ''m'' (genitive hippodromī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+ Also ''hippodromus''.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)^(Conte 2010)

+ Martial has the Greek accusative ''hippodromon''.^(TLL)

+ Medieval manuscripts also write ''ypodromus'', ''ipodromus'' and ''hyppodromus''.^(MLW)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|grc|ἱππόδρομος|tr=hippódromos|t=race-course for horses and chariots]],^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Saalfeld 1874) a compound of [[m|grc|ἵππος|tr=híppos|t=horse]] and [[m|grc|δρόμος|tr=drómos|t=running, course]].^(Wiktionary)^(Köbler 2010) Köbler traces the first part to [[ine-pro|*ek̑u̯os|t=horse]].^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is found from Plautus on,^(Köbler 2010)^(TLL) in the ''Bacchides'', of someone coming home from the ''hippodromus'' and the [[palaestra]].^(TLL)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It names a course for horse and chariot races;^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) among the Greeks such courses were public and often joined to the gymnasia.^(Georges 1913) Among the Romans it was also a track or walk in private gardens and villas, laid out in the shape of a race-course: Pliny the Younger describes one in his villa, and Martial and Sidonius Apollinaris mention others.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ In Late Latin, Hegesippus and Rufinus tell how Herod had the nobles shut up in the hippodrome.^(TLL) The Old Latin Bible, following the Septuagint, has it in Genesis in the account of Rachel's burial;^(TLL) Jerome says he does not know what the Greek translators meant by it.^(TLL)

+

+ Medieval writers use it of the imperial hippodrome^(MLW)^(DMLBS) and, in Britain, of a horse-trainer, of a trave in a smithy and of the rack, an instrument of torture shaped like a horse.^(DMLBS) English took over the word in the 1580s, through French.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it in the ''Bacchides''.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 40–102/103 AD – Martial uses it of a private race-track.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 431–486 AD – Sidonius Apollinaris mentions it in a letter.^(Georges 1913)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 639–709 AD – Aldhelm speaks of the vestibule of the imperial hippodrome.^(MLW)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1580s – English borrows it, through French, as [[m|en|hippodrome]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A course for horse and chariot races, a [[m|en|hippodrome]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Conte 2010)

+ # A track or walk in private grounds laid out like a race-course.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A [[m|en|horse-trainer]].^(DMLBS)^(Köbler 2010)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' The [[m|en|rack]], an instrument of torture shaped like a horse.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[circus]]

+ * [[stadium]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}