scortum Latin · revision 5799
16 Oct 2026, 03:53 by bogdan “New Latin entry (sources: de Vaan, OLD, Lewis & Short, TLL...)” current version
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+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=inherited|attested=Plautus|origins=ine-pro *sker-}}
+
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈskɔr.tũː]^(Wiktionary)
+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈskɔr.tum]^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Forms==
+ '''scortum''' ''n'' (genitive scortī); second declension^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Etymology==
+ It is [[inh|itc-pro|*skort-o-]], [[inh|ine-pro|*sk(o)rt-o-|t=what is cut]], from the root *(s)ker- “to cut”, so “skin, hide”.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) [[cortex]] “bark” and [[corium]] “hide” come from the same root, and the OLD compares [[ru|скора|tr=skora|t=hide]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012) Varro says the ancients called a skin ''scortum''.^(OLD 2012)
+
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus, who asks whether a man would snatch a harlot from her lover.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)^(OLD 2012) Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^(Köbler 2010)
+
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ Its first sense, “skin, hide”, is known only from Varro and late writers such as Tertullian.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Gaffiot 2016) Used as a euphemism, the word for “skin” came to mean a prostitute or courtesan, the usual sense from Plautus on, as in Cicero, and also a male prostitute.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016) The verb ''scortārī'' meant to go with harlots.^(OLD 2012)
+
+ Döderlein contrasts ''scortum'', a common harlot, with ''paelex'', a married man's mistress, and ''meretrīx''.^(Döderlein 1874) In British medieval Latin it was a piece of bark, by confusion with ''cortex''.^(DMLBS)
+
+ ==Timeline==
+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a harlot.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 116–27 BC – Varro records the old sense “skin”.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it of a hide.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Köbler 2010)
+
+ ==Meanings==
+ ===Noun===
+ # A skin, [[m|en|hide]].^(OLD 2012)
+ # A [[m|en|prostitute]], [[m|en|harlot]].^(OLD 2012)
+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' Bark.^(DMLBS)
+
+ ==Word family==
+ * [[scortātus]]
+ * [[scorteus]]
+ * [[scortillum]]
+ * [[scortor]]
+ * [[scortulum]]
+
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[scortātor]]
+ * [[scortea]]
+ * [[amīca]]
+ * [[lēnō]]
+ * [[lēna]]
+ * [[lupānar]]
+ * [[cēna]]
+ * [[corium]]
+ * [[cortex]]
+ * [[meretrīx]]
+ * [[paelex]]
+
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}