arrugia

Latin

Etymology

Unknown.^[1] Lewis and Short suggest that it is ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₃rewk-, making it cognate with runcō and Ancient Greek ὀρύσσω (orússō). Adams suggests it could be of Punic origin.^[2]

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /arˈru.ɡi.a/, [ärˈrʊɡiä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /arˈru.d͡ʒi.a/, [ärˈruːd͡ʒiä]

Noun

arrugia f (genitive arrugiae); first declension

1. A shaft and pit in a goldmine
   • c. 77 CE – 79 CE, Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia 33.70:

     cuniculis per magna spatia actis cavantur montes lucernarum ad lumina; eadem mensura vigiliarum est, multisque mensibus non cernitur dies. arrugias id genus vocant.

   • c. 77 CE – 79 CE, Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia 33.77:

     aurum arrugia quaesitum non coquitur, sed statim suum est.

   • 447 CE, Cassius Felix, De medicina 28.3, (gesentera = γῆς έντερα):

     gesentera id est vermiculos de arrugia

Declension

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	arrugia	arrugiae
Genitive	arrugiae	arrugiārum
Dative	arrugiae	arrugiīs
Accusative	arrugiam	arrugiās
Ablative	arrugiā	arrugiīs
Vocative	arrugia	arrugiae

Descendants

• Italian: roggia
• Spanish: arroyo
• Portuguese: arroio

References

1. Schrijver, Peter C. H. (1991) The reflexes of the Proto-Indo-European laryngeals in Latin (Leiden studies in Indo-European; 2), Amsterdam, Atlanta: Rodopi, →ISBN, page 33
2. J. N. Adams (2007 December 13) The Regional Diversification of Latin 200 BC - AD 600, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 545

Further reading

• “arrugia”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• arrugia in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.