metreta Latin · revision 36483

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

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [mɛˈtreː.ta]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [meˈtrɛː.ta]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''metrēta''' ''f'' (genitive metrētae); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+ It is masculine, as in Greek, in the jurist Gaius.^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|grc|μετρητής|tr=metrētḗs]],^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010) literally a “measurer”,^(Georges 1913) from [[m|grc|μετρέω|tr=metréō|t=to measure]], from [[m|grc|μέτρον|tr=métron|t=measure]].^(Köbler 2010) Köbler compares [[ine-pro|*meh₁-|t=to measure]].^(Köbler 2010)^(Pokorny 1959)

+

+ Augustine already explained that the measure took its name from measuring, since that is the Greek word for a measure.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Plautus has it first, in the prologue of the ''Mercator'', where a ship that carried three hundred ''metrētae'' is sold, the word measuring its burden.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It was the Athenian liquid [[m|en|measure]] of twelve ''congiī'', about nine English gallons.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(OLD 2012) By extension it named a [[m|en|jar]] or cask of that size: Cato uses it of a new oil jar, Columella of oil jars, and Juvenal of a jar that hits someone's head in the street.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) The jurist Gaius uses it too,^(Georges 1913) and Augustine comments on it in his tractates on the Gospel of John.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it as a measure of a ship's capacity.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato uses it for an oil jar.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1st century AD – Columella measures liquid pitch by the ''metrēta''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 67–c. 127 AD – Juvenal mentions a ''metrēta'' carried in the street.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 140–180 AD – The jurist Gaius uses it as a masculine.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A Greek liquid [[m|en|measure]] of about nine gallons, the [[m|en|metretes]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # A [[m|en|jar]] or [[m|en|cask]] holding that measure.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[metrētārius]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}