ostium Latin · revision 6635

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=Plautus|origins=la ōs}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈoːs.ti.ũː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈɔs.ti.um]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''ōstium''' ''n'' (genitive ōstiī or ōstī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is formed from or related to [[ōs]] “mouth”.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Gaffiot 2016) Cognate with [[sa|ओष्ठ|tr=óṣṭha-|t=lip]] and [[lt|uostas|t=river mouth]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) An inscription has the plural ⟨austia⟩.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The OLD's first citations are from Plautus, who speaks of overhearing everything from the door.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It meant a door with its frame, especially the front door of a building, as Plautus' ''rēctum ōstium'' “front door” and ''ōstium postīcum'' “back door”, and the entrance to the underworld.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016) It was also a starting gate in racing, any opening, as in Varro, and the mouth of a river or harbour, as in Cicero; the mouths of the Nile had their own names.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016) Döderlein says ''ōstium'' is any door, while [[iānua]] is a house door; [[forēs]] and [[valvae]] are the door leaves.^(Döderlein 1874)

+

+ In Medieval Latin it was the door of a church or monastery and the office of the doorkeeper.^(DMLBS) It survives in Romanian ''ușă'' and Italian ''uscio'' “door”, and Old French ''huis''.^(Wiktionary) [[en|ostium]] is a borrowing for an opening in anatomy.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of front and back doors.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of an opening.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the mouth of a river.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|door]], especially a front door.^(OLD 2012)

+ # A starting gate.^(OLD 2012)

+ # An [[m|en|opening]], aperture.^(OLD 2012)

+ # The [[m|en|mouth]] (of a river or harbour).^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[ōstiārius]]

+ * [[ōstiātim]]

+ * [[ostiolum]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[ōs]]

+ * [[iānua]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}