area Latin · revision 3675

+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|attested=Cato}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈaː.re.a]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈaː.re.a]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''ārea''' ''f'' (genitive āreae); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The origin is uncertain.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Etymonline) The OLD, the TLL and Etymonline suggest a derivation from [[areo|alt=āreō]] “to be dry”, as a dry, bare space.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Etymonline) Wiktionary also gives a derivation from [[ine-pro|*h₂eh₂r-|t=threshing tool]], comparing [[hit|ḫaḫḫar|t=rake]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is found in Cato (234–149 BC), who explains how to make a threshing floor.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Its main senses were a threshing floor, as in Cato and Varro, a garden bed, and an open space clear of buildings, especially a site for building, a courtyard, or an open square in Rome such as the ''area Capitoli''.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016) Columella speaks of salt pans, and Celsus of bald patches on the head.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ In geometry it was a plane surface, and ''areae pes'' a square foot.^(OLD 2012) The poets used it of any site or field of action, as Ovid's place fit for a battle.^(OLD 2012) In Medieval Latin it was a plot of land in a town or the country.^(Köbler 2010) It survives as Italian ''aia'', French ''aire'' and Spanish ''era'', “threshing floor”, and English borrowed ''area'' in the 1530s.^(Wiktionary)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of a threshing floor and garden beds.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a building site.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of plane surfaces.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 14–37 AD – Celsus uses it of bald patches.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1530s – English ''area'' is borrowed.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # An open space, a vacant lot, a building site; a courtyard, square.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A [[m|en|threshing floor]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A garden bed.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''area salinarum'': a salt pan.^(OLD 2012)

+ # A bald patch.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(geometry)'' A plane surface.^(OLD 2012)

+ # A site, field (of action).^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[āreālis]]

+ * [[āreola]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|area]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}