harpago Latin · revision 35780

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

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈhar.pa.ɡoː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈar.pa.ɡo]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''harpagō''' ''m'' (genitive harpagōnis); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+ Manuscripts also spell it ''arpagō''.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|grc|ἁρπάγη|tr=harpágē|t=hook]],^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(DMLBS) from [[m|grc|ἁρπάζω|tr=harpázō|t=to snatch away, seize]], whose origin is uncertain.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLL records it from Plautus on.^(TLL) In the ''Trinummus'' it is a term of abuse for a grasping person, in a string with “smooth talker” and “liar” (''blandiloquentulus, harpago, mendax'').^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Its main use is military: a [[m|en|grappling hook]] on a pole, used to pull down siege works and roofs or to seize enemy ships.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL) Caesar uses it in both kinds of fighting, and Livy, describing beams tipped with iron hooks thrown from Punic ships, adds that soldiers call them ''harpagōnes''.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL) Pliny the Elder names Pericles of Athens as the inventor of the grappling hook.^(TLL) Ulpian lists it among household tools, for drawing things out of wells,^(OLD 2012)^(TLL) and an early Latin version of Exodus uses it for the flesh hooks of the altar.^(TLL)

+

+ In Gildas it means the talons of a hawk, and Old English glossaries render it with words for an awl or a hook.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a rapacious person.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it for grappling hooks in siege and sea warfare.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 59 BC–17 AD – Livy says that soldiers call iron-tipped beams ''harpagōnes''.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * before 223 AD – Ulpian counts it among domestic implements.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 510–570 AD – Gildas uses it for a hawk's talons.^(DMLBS)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(military)'' A pole with a hook for tearing down structures or seizing ships, a [[m|en|grappling hook]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # A similar hook for household use, for drawing things up or out.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)

+ # ''(figurative)'' A [[m|en|rapacious]] person.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A [[m|en|talon]], a hook.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ A verb ''harpagō, -āre'' “to steal, carry off”, formed from it, occurs in Plautus.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}