bestiarius Latin · revision 36836

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=81–43 BC, Cicero|origins=la bēstia}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [beːs.tiˈaː.ri.ʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [bes.tiˈaː.ri.us]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''bēstiārius''' ''m'' (genitive bēstiāriī or bēstiārī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+ As an adjective: ''bēstiārius, bēstiāria, bēstiārium''; first/second-declension adjective.^(Wiktionary)^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|bēstia|-ārius|t1=beast]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(TLL) The origin of [[m|la|bēstia]] is uncertain; de Vaan compares [[m|la|bēlua|t=beast, monster]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Cicero is the first author.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010) In the ''Pro Sestio'' he mocks an aedileship that offered “one lion, two hundred beast-fighters”, ''ūnus leō, ducentī bēstiāriī''.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It named a man who fought wild beasts in the arena;^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Georges and Lewis and Short distinguish hired fighters, who were armed and rewarded when they won, from condemned criminals, who fought without weapons.^(Georges 1913)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Both give [[grc|θηριομάχης|tr=thēriomákhēs]] as its equivalent.^(Georges 1913)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Seneca tells of a lion in the amphitheatre that recognised one of the beast-fighters as its former keeper and protected him,^(TLL) and Petronius has a speaker who has seen better beast-fighters.^(TLL) As an adjective it is found only in Seneca's ''in lūdō bēstiāriō'', a beast fight, a reading the TLL marks as doubtful.^(TLL)^(Conte 2010)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ In Christian writers the old Latin text of 1 Corinthians, quoted by Tertullian, says that God chose the apostles as if they were ''bēstiāriī'', where the Vulgate has “as men condemned to death”,^(TLL) and Lactantius complains of making beast-fighters rich.^(TLL) Glossaries explain it as a hunter of beasts.^(Du Cange 1883)^(DMLBS) British Medieval Latin used the adjective for beastlike or savage, the neuter as a noun for cattle, and the word for a book of beasts, a bestiary.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the beast-fighters of the games.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses the noun and, once, the adjective.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * before 66 AD – Petronius uses it of the arena fighters.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian quotes it from the old Latin version of 1 Corinthians.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 1396 – The Meaux chronicle uses it for a book on the nature of beasts.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A man who fights wild [[m|en|beast|alt=beasts]] in the [[m|en|arena]], a beast-fighter.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A [[m|en|hunter]] of beasts.^(Du Cange 1883)^(DMLBS)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A [[m|en|bestiary]], a book of beasts.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Of or comprising fights with wild beasts.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' Beastlike, [[m|en|savage]].^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[bēstia]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}