plostrum

Latin

Alternative forms

• plaustrum

Etymology

Uncertain; possibly from Latin plautus~plōtus (“flat, broad”), thus "flatwagon", or Latin plaudere~plōdere (“clap, clatter”), thus "clatterer", both from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂- and containing *-trom (“tool-suffix”) (Latin -trum). V. Bertoldi considers it a substrate word of various forms, among which ploxenum (“wagon-box”). C.f also Latin plaumorātum (plauromātum?) (“a type of plough”) and Proto-Germanic *plōgaz (“plough”) of likewise uncertain etymology.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈploːs.trum/, [ˈpɫ̪oːs̠t̪rʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈplos.trum/, [ˈplɔst̪rum]

Noun

plōstrum n (genitive plōstrī); second declension

1. (vehicles) an open wagon or cart for hauling loads.

   Synonyms: vehiculum, carrus, iūmentum

   • c. 69 CE – 122 CE, Suetonius, Divus Vespasianus 22:

     Et tamen nonnulla eius facetissima extant, in quibus et haec. Mestrium Florum consularem, admonitus ab eo “plaustra” potius quam “plostra” dicenda, postero die “Flaurum” salutavit.

     And yet some excellent jests of his are still told, among these. When he had been admonished by the consular Mestrius Flōrus that he should say “plaustra” rather than “plōstra”, the next day he greeted Flōrus as “Flaurus”.

2. the Big Dipper, Charles' Wain, the Plough.

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

	singular	plural
nominative	plōstrum	plōstra
genitive	plōstrī	plōstrōrum
dative	plōstrō	plōstrīs
accusative	plōstrum	plōstra
ablative	plōstrō	plōstrīs
vocative	plōstrum	plōstra

Derived terms

• plōstellum
• plōstrārius, plōstrālius, plaustrārius
• plaustrilūcus (to meaning 2.)

References

• Walde, Alois, Hofmann, Johann Baptist (1954) “plostrum”, in Lateinisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), 3rd edition, volume 2, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, page 320

Further reading

• “plostrum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “plostrum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• plostrum in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• plostrum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “plostrum”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “plostrum”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin
• Calabrese, Andrea (2005). “On the evolution of the short high vowels of Latin into Romance” (PDF). A View from Arjona. University of Connecticut Working Papers in Linguistics. 13: 71. doi:10.1075/cilt.244.08cal. Retrieved 2024-11-16.