murmillo Latin · revision 35676

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=borrowing|attested=81–43 BC, Cicero|origins=grc μορμύρος}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [mʊrˈmɪl.loː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [murˈmil.lo]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''murmillō''' ''m'' (genitive murmillōnis); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+ Inscriptions mostly have ''murm-'', the manuscripts more often ''myrmillō'', and later writers such as Aurelius Victor and Ammianus ''mirmillō''.^(TLL)^(Georges 1913)

+ Wiktionary takes ''mirmillō'' as its main form.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is apparently [[bor|grc|μορμύρος|tr=mormúros|t=a kind of sea fish]], or the related [[m|grc|μορμύλος|tr=mormúlos]],^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Lewis & Short 1879) the gladiator being named after the image of a fish on his helmet, as the scholia on Juvenal explain.^(TLL)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Köbler starts from the Greek [[m|grc|μουρμίλλων|tr=mourmíllōn]] and notes that the further origin is unexplained.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Köbler and the TLL record it first in Cicero,^(Köbler 2010)^(TLL) who mocks Lucius Antonius as having become “a general out of a ''murmillo'', a commander out of a gladiator” (''ex murmillone dux, ex gladiatore imperator'').^(TLL)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The word names one type of gladiator, armed in the Gallic manner, with a fish on the crest of his helmet, who usually fought the net-fighter ([[rētiārius]]) or the Thracian.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) The epitome of Festus reports the song sung by the net-fighter against him, ''non te peto, piscem peto; quid me fugis, Galle?'' (“it's not you I'm after, it's the fish; why do you run from me, Gaul?”), and explains that the murmillo's armour was Gallic and that such fighters were formerly called ''Galli''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(TLL) The TLL notes that the writers use it with contempt, as of the lowest kind of job.^(TLL) Seneca, Quintilian, Suetonius and Ammianus use it,^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) and it appears in inscriptions.^(TLL)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it in the Philippics to mock Lucius Antonius.^(TLL)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it in ''De providentia''.^(Georges 1913)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it in the lives of Caligula and Nero.^(Georges 1913)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 390 AD – Ammianus Marcellinus has the spelling ''mirmillō''.^(Georges 1913)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A ''murmillo'', a [[m|en|gladiator]] with Gallic armour and a fish on his [[m|en|helmet]], usually matched against a [[rētiārius]] or a Thracian.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[murmillōnicus]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}