gabata

Latin

Alternative forms

• gā̆vata
• gabatha (often in manuscripts)

Etymology

Akin to the Byzantine Greek γαβάθα (gabátha) and the Hesychian γαβαθόν (gabathón). Traditionally said to be from cavus (“hollow”) according to Lewis and Short and Isidore of Seville (see below). But more likely a Semitic borrowing: compare Ugaritic 𐎖𐎁𐎓𐎚 (qbʿt, “goblet”), Hebrew קֻבַּעַת (qubbáʿaṯ, “cup, goblet”), Akkadian 𒋡𒍠 (qa.ZAG /⁠qabūtu⁠/, “cup”), in Emar 𒄣𒉺𒄷 (qu-ba₂-ḫu /⁠qubbaʿu⁠/), قُبَع (qubaʕ, “bugle, trumpet”), قُبْعَة (qubʕa, “calix of a flower”), قَعْب (qaʕb, “cup”), Phoenician 𐤒𐤁𐤏 (qbʿ, “cup, goblet”), Imperial Aramaic 𐡒𐡁𐡏𐡀 (qbʿʾ), Classical Syriac ܩܘܒܥܐ (qubbəʿā, quḇʿā, “calyx of a flower”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈɡa.ba.ta/, [ˈɡäbät̪ä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈɡa.ba.ta/, [ˈɡäːbät̪ä]

Noun

gabata f (genitive gabatae); first declension (Late Latin)

1. A kind of dish or platter assumed to be made out of precious material.
   • c. 91 CE, Martial, Epigrammata 7.48.3:

     Trānscurrunt gabatae volantque lancēs.

     Platters run by and dishes fly.

   • 96 CE, Martial, Epigrammata 11.31.18–19:

     Sīc implet gabatās paropsidasque,
     et lēvēs scutulās cavāsque lancēs.

     Thus he fills platters and side dishes,
     and polished square saucers and hollow plates.

   • c. 600 CE – 625 CE, Isidorus Hispalensis, Etymologiae 20.4.11:

     Gavata, quia cavāta, G prō C litterā positā. Hinc et conca; sed illa cavāta, ista concāva: sīc et Graecī haec nuncupant.

     It's called gavata because it's hollowed out, with G put instead of C. Hence conca as well; but the former is hollowed, this one is concave: thus do the Greeks also call them.

Declension

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	gabata	gabatae
Genitive	gabatae	gabatārum
Dative	gabatae	gabatīs
Accusative	gabatam	gabatās
Ablative	gabatā	gabatīs
Vocative	gabata	gabatae

Descendants

• Italo-Romance:
  • Italian: gavetta
    • → Spanish: gaveta
    • → Galician: gabeta
    • → Portuguese: gaveta
  • Neapolitan: gaveta
  • Sicilian: gavita
• Gallo-Italic:
  • Piedmontese: gavia
• Gallo-Romance:
  • French: jatte
    • → Dutch: jat
• Occitano-Romance:
  • Old Occitan: gaveda
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Galician: gabido, gabedo, gabado, gábado
• → Old High German: gebiza, gebita
  • Middle High German: *gebse, *gebze
    • Alemannic German: Gebse, Gepse, Geps
    • Bavarian: Gebsa

References

• “gabata”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• gabata 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)
• gabata in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “gabata”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “gabata” in volume 6, part 2, column 1666, line 38 in the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae (TLL Open Access), Berlin (formerly Leipzig): De Gruyter (formerly Teubner), 1900–present
• γαβαθόν in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2024)
• Olmo Lete, Gregorio del with Sanmartín, Joaquín and Watson, Wilfred G. E. (2015) “gabata”, in A Dictionary of the Ugaritic Language in the Alphabetic Tradition (Handbook of Oriental Studies; 112), 3rd edition, Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 681