pristis Latin · revision 36908

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=70–19 BC, Virgil|origins=grc πρίστις}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈprɪs.tɪs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈpris.tis]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''pristis''' ''f''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|grc|πρίστις|tr=prístis|t=sawfish, sea monster]].^(OLD 2012)^(Saalfeld 1874)^(Wiktionary)^(Köbler 2010) Köbler tentatively connects it with a root [[ine-pro|*prīs-|t=to cut up]].^(Köbler 2010) The variant ⟨pistrix⟩ arose by metathesis, helped by [[m|la|pistrix|t=female baker]].^(TLL)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Köbler dates it from Virgil,^(Köbler 2010) whose ''Aeneid'' describes a figure that is human in front and ends below in a sea monster: ''in prīstim dēsinit alvus''.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It named any large sea creature: Pliny the Elder writes of ''pristes'' two hundred cubits long in the Indian Ocean and counts the ''pristis'' with the whale among the animals that bear live young.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913) The OLD notes that it was sometimes identified with the sawfish.^(OLD 2012) Florus compares someone who escaped through the middle of the enemy ships to a sea monster.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ It was also the constellation Cetus, the Whale, in Germanicus and Manilius,^(OLD 2012) and a light oared warship, in Livy;^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016) the annalist Claudius Quadrigarius explained that this kind of vessel was named after the sea beast.^(OLD 2012) In the ''Aeneid'' it is the name of a ship in Aeneas' fleet.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a sea monster and as the name of a ship.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of a light warship.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1st century AD – Germanicus and Manilius use it of the constellation Cetus.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder describes the creature in the Indian Ocean.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A large [[m|en|sea monster]] or sea creature; a [[m|en|whale]], a [[m|en|sawfish]].^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)

+ # The constellation [[m|en|Cetus]], the Whale.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)

+ # A light, swift [[m|en|warship]] with oars.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[pistriger]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The forms ''pistrīx'' and ''pistris'' are used in the same senses: Virgil has ''pistrīx'' of Scylla, and Cicero's ''Aratea'' has it for the constellation.^(Georges 1913)^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}