spongia Latin · revision 4244

15 Oct 2026, 21:24 by bogdan “New Latin entry (sources: de Vaan, OLD, Lewis & Short, TLL...)” current version
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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=Cato|origins=grc σπόγγος}}
+ 
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈspɔŋ.ɡi.a]^(Wiktionary)
+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈspɔn̠ʲ.d͡ʒi.a]^(Wiktionary)
+ 
+ ==Forms==
+ '''spongia''' ''f'' (genitive spongiae); first declension^(Wiktionary)
+ 
+ ==Etymology==
+ It is [[bor|grc|σπογγιά|tr=spongiá|t=sponge]],^(OLD 2012)^(Saalfeld 1874)^(Wiktionary) from [[m|grc|σπόγγος|tr=spóngos|t=sponge]], which Etymonline calls of unknown origin.^(Etymonline) Wiktionary takes [[fungus]] as a doublet, both borrowed from the same substrate source.^(Wiktionary) Variant spellings are [[m|la|spongea]] and [[m|la|sphongia]].^(OLD 2012)
+ 
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ Cato, in On Agriculture, says to wipe hams with a sponge on the third day.^(OLD 2012) Köbler dates Cato 234–149 BC.^(Köbler 2010)
+ 
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ It was the sponge, both as a sea animal and for household uses: Cicero recalls blood wiped from the Forum with sponges.^(OLD 2012) Pliny the Elder uses it of a gall on wild roses and of a spongy fungus.^(OLD 2012) Livy uses it of the padded armour of gladiators, and Columella and Pliny of the tangled root of asparagus.^(Gaffiot 2016) Isidore of Seville uses it of pumice.^(Isidore)^(Wiktionary)
+ 
+ Medieval writers used it of a piece of sponge.^(DMLBS) English ''sponge'' is already in Old English, from Latin.^(Etymonline)
+ 
+ ==Timeline==
+ * 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of a sponge.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of sponges in the Forum.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of gladiators' armour.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * Old English – Borrowed as [[m|en|sponge]].^(Etymonline)
+ 
+ ==Meanings==
+ ===Noun===
+ # A [[m|en|sponge]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)
+ # A spongy growth: a rose gall; a fungus.^(OLD 2012)
+ # Padded armour of a gladiator.^(Gaffiot 2016)
+ # The root of asparagus.^(Gaffiot 2016)
+ # Pumice.^(Isidore)^(Wiktionary)
+ 
+ ==Word family==
+ * [[spongiārius]]
+ * [[spongiola]]
+ * [[spongiōsus]]
+ * [[spongius]]
+ * [[spongizo]]
+ * [[spongiō]]
+ 
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[xylospongium]]
+ * [[fungus]]
+ * [[en|sponge]]
+ 
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}