semodius Latin · revision 34747

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=234–149 BC, Cato|origins=la modius}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [seːˈmɔ.di.ʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [seˈmɔː.di.us]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''sēmodius''' ''m'' (genitive sēmodiī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+ A fuller form ''sēmimodius'' appears in the metrological writers.^(Georges 1913)^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|sēmi-|modius|t1=half|t2=a dry measure, peck]],^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) with the prefix shortened to ⟨sē-⟩ before ⟨m⟩, as de Vaan notes sometimes happens.^(de Vaan 2008) De Vaan traces the prefix to [[itc-pro|*sēmi-]] and [[ine-pro|*sēm-i|t=in one]], whose meaning shifted from “one” to “one of two” and then “half”.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Köbler records it first in Cato,^(Köbler 2010) whose list of farm equipment includes ''modium praeferrātum I, sēmodium I'', one iron-bound modius and one half-modius, a measuring vessel.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It was the standard name for half a modius, a dry measure of grain and the like, in Varro, Columella, Pliny the Elder, Martial and Juvenal.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)^(Conte 2010) Varro used it of a quantity of pearls, ''sēmodius margarītārum''.^(Georges 1913)

+

+ It lived on in Medieval Latin, also as ''sēmimodius'':^(Niermeyer 1976)^(DMLBS) Osbern of Gloucester defines it as half a modius, and English inventories of 1397 list a ''semimodius'' beside a bushel.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato lists a half-modius measure among farm equipment.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro speaks of half a modius of pearls.^(Georges 1913)

+ * 1st century AD – Columella uses it as a measure.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ * 40–102/103 AD – Martial uses it.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ * 1397 – An English inventory lists a ''semimodius'' beside a bushel.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A Roman dry [[m|en|measure]] of half a [[modius]], a half-[[m|en|peck]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # A measuring vessel of this capacity.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[sēmodiālis]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[sēmis]]

+ * [[sēlībra]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}