capisterium

Latin

Alternative forms

• scaphistērium

Etymology

From Ancient Greek σκαφιστήριον (skaphistḗrion, “vessel used for cleaning, separating seed grain from the rest”), from σκάφος (skáphos, “ship's hull, hollow”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ka.pisˈteː.ri.um/, [käpɪs̠ˈt̪eːriʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ka.pisˈte.ri.um/, [käpisˈt̪ɛːrium]

Noun

capistērium n (genitive capistēriī or capistērī); second declension

1. vessel used for cleaning, separating seed grain from the rest
2. (Medieval Latin) beehive

   Synonym: alveus

3. (Medieval Latin) sieve

   Synonym: crībrum

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	capistērium	capistēria
Genitive	capistēriī capistērī1	capistēriōrum
Dative	capistēriō	capistēriīs
Accusative	capistērium	capistēria
Ablative	capistēriō	capistēriīs
Vocative	capistērium	capistēria

¹Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

Descendants

• Abruzzese: capistieru, capistiera
• Old French: chastoire, chatoire (“beehive”)
• → Old High German: chafteri (“beehive”),
  • Middle High German: chafter (“beehive; little chamber, closet”)
    • German: Käfter (“little chamber, closet”)
  • → Hungarian: kaptár (“beehive”)
• Italian: capisteo (“agricultural container”)
• Romanian: căpistere (“kneading trough”)

References

• “capisterium”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• capisterium 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)
• capisterium in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “capisterium”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin