Disputatio:Fabricator Ostri

message: Alexanderr, could you please provide an interwiki link? I'm afraid I'm going to need some help figuring out what you're saying here. --Iustinus 06:30, 4 Septembris 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: There isn't one. I made this article up from some information gathered from Worst Jobs in History. Alexanderr 06:36, 4 Septembris 2006 (UTC)
I'll copy what I intended to say in English for you as well.

text: Fabricatores Ostri est ordo hominium ex aevo phoecianorum qui praeparant ostrum contritione conchae (should be concharum), et fermetione eius, et madefacione vestituum in mixtura post decim dies fermentionis.

text: Purple Makers is an order of people [dating] from the time of the phonecians, who prepared ostrum through/by the crushing of molluscs, the their fermenting, and the soaking of vestments in the mixtur after ten days of fermentation.
Alexanderr 06:41, 4 Septembris 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: :Interesting. I confess that the word ostrum is new to me, but it is apparently correct. However I'm pretty sure there is a classical word for "purple-maker." The purplefish was a huge industry already in Roman times, of course. So we'll need to look this up. Of course i'ts almost 2 am my time, and I'm about to drop dead. So we can look into this later. --Iustinus 06:42, 4 Septembris 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: ::Sure thing. Alexanderr 06:45, 4 Septembris 2006 (UTC)

message: Well, I guess I lied. I still don't have a term for "purple maker" but I'm getting close. Here's what I found:
*Purpura -ae, f "Tyrian Purple", the famous dye.
**Purpureus -a -um colored with, or similar in color to Tyrian Purple.
**Purpurarius -a -um pertaining to Tyrian Purple. 
***Purpurarius -i (feminine Purpuraria -ae) purple-dyer (may or may not be the same thing as a purple-maker, but I'm not certain)
***Officina Purpuraria a purple factory. Purpuraria as a noun can mean a place of business as well, but I'm not sure if it is equivalent to officina purpuraria or if maybe it could refer to the place where fabrics are dyed.
*Murex -icis, m. "Purple-fish", i.e. Hexaplex trunculus, the sea-snail from which Tyrian Purple is made. Sometimes used metaphorically to mean the dye (but only in poetry, I think), or anything sharp (see murex ferreus).
*Ostrum -i, n. as I understand it, is the raw material extracted from the murex to make Tyrian Purple.
More could probably be added here, but as I said, I shouldn't even be doing this much ;) --Iustinus 06:54, 4 Septembris 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Well it seems like you are getting close, but even if worst comes to worst I'm sure we can use "Fabricator Purpurae". Alexanderr 07:01, 4 Septembris 2006 (UTC)
Oh, and by the way, while I'm not sure what the exact meaning of "ostrum" is Whitaker's Words lists "purple dye" as the first of its meanings. Alexanderr 07:03, 4 Septembris 2006 (UTC)
OK, for purpuraria, the place, see Pliny HN 35.27.46:
Ab hoc maxime auctoritas Indico. ex India venit harundinum spumae adhaerescente limo. cum cernatur, nigrum, at in diluendo mixturam purpurae caeruleique mirabilem reddit. alterum genus eius est in purpurariis officinis innatans cortinis, et est purpurae spuma. qui adulterant, vero Indico tingunt stercora columbina aut cretam Selinusiam vel anulariam vitro inficiunt.
So it looks like it's definitely a purple-factory. This, to my mind, increases the chances that the word we're looking for really is just purpurarius. Note Acts 16.14: et quaedam mulier nomine Lydia purpuraria.... Unfortunately, I don't think we ever learn more about Lydia's profession. --Iustinus 03:57, 6 Septembris 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: :Maybe then Collegium purpurariorum? (Alexanderr, collegium corresponds to english "guild")--Ioshus (disp) 15:16, 6 Septembris 2006 (UTC)

text: See Allen & Greenough, whose discussion implies:
replies: text: :purpurarius 'purple-maker, -dyer, -seller, etc.' < -arius "person employed about anything" (A&G 254.1)

text: :purpurarium 'establishment for purple-making, -dyeing, -selling, etc.' < -arium "place of a thing" (A&G 254.3)

text: IacobusAmor 17:49, 6 Septembris 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Vocabulary