metrum Latin · revision 9405

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=Vitruvius|origins=ine-pro *meh₁-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈmɛ.trũː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈmɛː.trum]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''metrum''' ''n'' (genitive metrī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+ Also ''metron''.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|grc|μέτρον|tr=métron|t=measure]], from [[ine-pro|*meh₁-|t=to measure]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Köbler 2010)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The OLD's earliest citation for metre is from Vitruvius.^(OLD 2012) Köbler dates Vitruvius c. 84–c. 25 BC.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It was poetic rhythm, metre, as in Vitruvius and Quintilian, and a line of verse, as in Columella; an inscription uses it of official measuring vessels.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016) Lewis & Short call the sense “verse” post-Augustan.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Isidore says ''metrum'' is a measure of liquids, from the Greek for measure.^(Isidore)

+

+ In Ecclesiastical Latin it was verse, metre, measure.^(Stelten 1995) British Medieval Latin used it for an instrument for measuring and for a measure, a standard.^(DMLBS) Old English borrowed it as ''meter'', the source of [[en|meter]], [[en|metre]] in verse; the unit of length (1797) came through French ''mètre''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it of metre.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1797 – English ''metre'', the unit, is recorded.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|metre|alt=Metre]], poetic rhythm; a line of verse.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016)

+ # A measure; a measuring vessel.^(OLD 2012)^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[mētior]]

+ * [[mēnsūra]]

+ * [[en|meter]]

+ * [[en|metre]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}