pistrinum

Latin

Etymology

Etymology tree

Latin pīnsō

Proto-Indo-European *-tōr

Proto-Italic *-tōr

Latin -tor

Latin pistor

Proto-Indo-European *-nós

Proto-Indo-European *-iHnos

Proto-Italic *-īnos

Latin -īnus

Latin pistrīnum

From pistor (“baker”) + -īnus.

Noun

pistrīnum n (genitive pistrīnī); second declension

1. mill
2. bakery
3. (figuratively) drudgery, oppressive labor
   • 166 BCE, Publius Terentius Afer, Andria 199–200:

     SĪMŌ: [...] verberibus caesum tē in pistrīnum, Dāve, dēdam usque ad necem, / eā lēge atque ōmine ut, sī tē inde exēmerim, ego prō tē molam!

     SIMO: [...] after you’ve been sliced with the whips, Davus, I'll consign you to hard labor at the mill, and all the way until death — with this condition and omen: that if ever I take you out of there, I will grind in your place!

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

	singular	plural
nominative	pistrīnum	pistrīna
genitive	pistrīnī	pistrīnōrum
dative	pistrīnō	pistrīnīs
accusative	pistrīnum	pistrīna
ablative	pistrīnō	pistrīnīs
vocative	pistrīnum	pistrīna

Derived terms

• pistrīnārius

Descendants

• Italian: pistrino
• Old French: pestrin
  • French: pétrin
• Middle High German: phistrine, pfistrine, phister, pfister
  • German: Pfisterei, Pfister
  • Slovene: pisker
• Old Galician-Portuguese:
  • Portuguese: pistrina

References

• “pistrinum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “pistrinum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “pistrinum”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “pistrinum”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “pistrinum”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin