lanius Latin · revision 35696

+ {{infobox|confidence=disputed|formation=inherited|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=itc-pro *lanio-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈɫa.ni.ʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈlaː.ni.us]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''lanius''' ''m'' (genitive laniī or lanī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The origin is disputed.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) De Vaan's reconstruction is [[inh|itc-pro|*lanio-|t=breaker]], [[inh|ine-pro|*h₃lomH-io-]], from the root [[m|ine-pro|*lem(H)-|t=to break]]: the butcher would be “the breaker (of bones)”, as Dutch has [[m|nl|beenhouwer|t=butcher]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) He explains the /a/ by the unrounding after /l/ that Schrijver posits for [[lacus]], and finds the meaning attractive.^(de Vaan 2008) If so, it is related to [[sga|ro·laimethar|t=to dare]], [[lt|lémti|t=to decide, determine]], [[goh|lam|t=lame]] and perhaps [[grc|νωλεμές|tr=nōlemés|t=without pause]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ Walde and Hofmann regard the whole family of these words as Etruscan, because the Romans called [[lanista]] Etruscan; de Vaan thinks this rash.^(de Vaan 2008) Köbler gives an Etruscan origin.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is found from Plautus on,^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) meaning a [[m|en|butcher]]: in the ''Captivi'' a character speaks of butchers ''qui concinnant liberis orbas ovis'', “who leave the ewes bereft of their young”.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is the ordinary word for a butcher or slaughterer:^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Terence lists ''cetarii, lanii, coqui'', “fishmongers, butchers, cooks”,^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) Livy has a knife snatched from a butcher,^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) and ''ad lanium pervenire'' meant to end up at the butcher's.^(OLD 2012) Plautus and Varro also use it of the man who slaughters [[m|en|sacrifice|alt=sacrificial]] victims,^(Georges 1913) and Plautus of an executioner.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ Later it is used of anyone who kills cruelly: in Petronius a wolf has killed the flock “as if a butcher had bled them”,^(TLL) and Tertullian calls the physician Herophilus, who dissected six hundred people, ''medicus aut lanius'', “a doctor or a butcher”.^(TLL)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it for butchers and for executioners.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 190–159 BC – Terence lists butchers beside fishmongers and cooks.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro uses it for the slaughterer of sacrificial animals.^(Georges 1913)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * before 66 AD – Petronius compares a wolf to a butcher.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian calls a physician a butcher.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|butcher]], a slaughterer.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # A slaughterer of [[m|en|sacrifice|alt=sacrificial]] victims.^(Georges 1913)

+ # ''(figurative)'' An [[m|en|executioner]], a cruel killer.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)^(TLL)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[laniārium]]

+ * [[laniārius]]

+ * [[laniēnus]]

+ * [[laniō]]

+ * [[laniolum]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[lanista]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}