ocrea Latin · revision 36492

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

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈɔ.kre.a]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈɔː.kre.a]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''ocrea''' ''f'' (genitive ocreae); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The origin is uncertain; the OLD marks it as doubtful.^(OLD 2012) The TLL thinks the word foreign, perhaps Carian, since Pliny the Elder says that the Carians invented greaves.^(TLL)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Lewis & Short and Wiktionary compare [[grc|ὄκρις|tr=ókris|t=prominence]],^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary) and Köbler connects it with [[ine-pro|*ok̑ri-|t=corner, point]].^(Köbler 2010)^(Pokorny 1959) Ancient grammarians derived it from [[m|la|ob]] [[m|la|crūs|alt=crus]], “against the shin”, as Varro does, or with Festus from [[m|la|ocris]], a rugged mountain, for greaves with uneven bosses.^(TLL)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Köbler dates it from Varro,^(Köbler 2010) who explains it in the ''De lingua Latina'' as the piece set against the shin.^(TLL)^(Conte 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It was usually plural, a pair of greaves.^(OLD 2012) Virgil has greaves of pliant silver, and Livy lists bronze greaves with helmet, shield and breastplate; he also notes that the Samnites wore one on the left leg only.^(TLL)^(Lewis & Short 1879) In Petronius ''per scūtum per ocream'', “by shield and by greave”, is a proverb for trying every means.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL) Juvenal uses it of a gladiator's greaves,^(TLL)^(Lewis & Short 1879) the poem ''Moretum'' of a farmer's leggings,^(OLD 2012) and Vegetius writes that foot soldiers were made to wear iron greaves on the right leg.^(TLL)^(Lewis & Short 1879) In Ecclesiastical Latin it is a metal greave.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro explains the word as a guard set against the shin.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil writes of silver greaves.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of bronze greaves and of the Samnites' single greave.^(TLL)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * before 66 AD – Petronius uses the proverb ''per scūtum per ocream''.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 400 AD – Vegetius writes of iron greaves worn on the right leg.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|greave]], a guard for the shin worn by soldiers and gladiators, usually in the plural.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # A protective [[m|en|legging]] worn by farm workers or hunters.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[ocreātus]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Ocrea'' was also a Roman cognomen, as of Gaius Luscius Ocrea in Cicero.^(Lewis & Short 1879) The proverb ''per scūtum per ocream'' corresponds to “by hook or by crook”.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}