siliqua Latin · revision 36079

+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|attested=116–27 BC, Varro}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈsɪ.lɪ.kʷa]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈsiː.li.kʷa]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''siliqua''' ''f'' (genitive siliquae); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The origin is uncertain.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) De Vaan lists it with [[m|la|silex|t=flint]], but rejects the older derivation of both by dissimilation from an older ⟨skelik-⟩, and doubts that the flint word is related at all, since the meanings differ; he thinks [[m|la|silīgō|t=soft wheat]] is close enough in meaning to come from the same root as this word.^(de Vaan 2008) Wiktionary considers a substrate origin likely,^(Wiktionary) while Köbler compares [[ine-pro|*skel-|t=to cut]].^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan and Köbler date it from Varro,^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) whose farming treatise uses it of bean pods that have not yet grown enough for the beans to be picked.^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Its basic sense is a pod of beans and other pulses:^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Virgil has a crop of pulse with rattling pods, and Columella and Pliny the Elder use it in farming.^(OLD 2012) In the plural it came to mean pulse as a cheap food: Horace has someone who lives on pods and second-grade bread, and Persius and Juvenal use it in the same way.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ''Siliqua Graeca'', or simply ''siliqua'', is the carob tree or its fruit in Columella and Pliny the Elder, and ''siliqua Syriaca'' a kind of carob.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Columella also reports that country people gave the name to fenugreek.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913) In late writers it was a very small weight, one sixth of a scruple,^(Georges 1913)^(Conte 2010) and in the ''Code of Justinian'' a coin worth one twenty-fourth of a solidus.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) Medieval Latin used it as a weight of gold.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ British medieval writers used it for a husk or pod, often as the food of pigs, with reference to the prodigal son in the Gospel of Luke;^(DMLBS) Bede writes of a pod that fills the body but does not nourish it, and it also stood for something worthless.^(DMLBS) Italian [[m|it|serqua]] comes from it.^(Conte 2010)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of bean pods.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of rattling pods.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1st century AD – Columella uses ''siliqua Graeca'' of the carob tree.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 400 AD – Vegetius uses it of a small weight.^(Georges 1913)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 528–534 AD – The ''Code of Justinian'' uses it of a coin.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|pod]] or [[m|en|husk]] of pulses;^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) (plural) pulse.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # (usually ''siliqua Graeca'', also ''Syriaca'') The [[m|en|carob]] tree or its fruit.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # [[m|en|fenugreek|alt=Fenugreek]].^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)

+ # ''(Late Latin)'' A very small [[m|en|weight]], one sixth of a [[m|en|scruple]]; a coin, one twenty-fourth of a [[m|en|solidus]].^(Georges 1913)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[silicula]]

+ * [[siliquor]]

+ * [[siliquastrum]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[silīgō]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}