Talk:historia

Storey

In the Latin of 12th century England, historia came to have the meaning "storey", i.e. floor on a building, and that is the origin of the modern English word "storey" - or since American English doesn't distinguish the spelling, that is the origin of the architectural meaning of the English word "story". The reason for this development seems to have been connected to the practice of painting narratives on the facades of buildings. This ought to be noted on this page, but I am not sure how best to do it. As a further definition under Latin (with a note that it is late and geographically restricted) or by putting in Anglo-Latin as though it were a separate language? --Doric Loon (talk) 16:01, 17 June 2017 (UTC)

@Doric Loon This etymology is already noted at the etymology section of storey; furthermore, the meaning of historia which gave rise to storey does not seem to be distinct from any of the already listed definitions on the Latin entry. I don't see why or how the Latin entry ought to be expanded. — Kleio (t · c) 17:24, 18 June 2017 (UTC)

@Kleio You misunderstand me. The issue is not just that this is the source of the English word; I agree that the etymology of storey belongs elsewhere. The point is, though, that the meaning is already attested in Latin. The entry on the Latin word needs somehow to say that in Latin, historia also had the meaning "floor of a building". My problem is that I don't know how best to do that, since this meaning only occurs in one variety of Latin, namely in the Anglo-Latin of the Middle Ages. --Doric Loon (talk) 23:25, 18 June 2017 (UTC)

@Doric Loon ah, I did misunderstand you. I've added it to the entry clarifying its Anglo-Latin status using the {{lb}} template. However, I'd appreciate it if you could find some quotation(s) illustrating this usage specifically so it can be verified. — Kleio (t · c) 16:35, 19 June 2017 (UTC)

Well, you'll find it here: http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=story. But of course that is a work focussed on the English word - you really want to find it in something like the Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, which unfortunately I don't have access to at the moment. --Doric Loon (talk) 20:09, 21 June 2017 (UTC)

I trust Etymonline well enough for this, though for good measure I'll check the resource you recommended. My uni has it, so when I get around to it I'll have a look around. — Kleio (t · c) 20:45, 21 June 2017 (UTC)