Subarmalis in the literary sources

[Sean Manning]

As a so-so Latinist, I think that subarmalis is pretty obviously "thing under kit". Deductions like this are very common; social historians have a lot of terms like sarcinatrix and cabator which aren't used in literature and which they have to deduce from context. I'm not saying that the obvious meaning is right, but it is what I would guess if I encountered it in an inscription and weren't a militarist.

That was the point of my question. When we do have a context, it does not necessarily support what might at first sight seem the obvious interpretation.

Hold on; I was answering Alexander's question. My point is that deducing meaning from the components of a word is a common method, and so is looking to the literary sources for a rare word. We need to consider the context of all six uses (3 in the HA, 1 in Martianus Capella, 1 at Carlisle, 1 at Vindolanda which I don't have access too).

It seems like we have two questions: one about whether a subarmalis was a garment or a weapon, and one about whether it is derived from armus or arma. It seems like the Carlisle tablet is the only evidence for subarmalis as a short spear, although I don't have a copy of the Vindolanda tablets to check. Martianus Capella and the Scriptor Historia Augusta both have it as a piece of clothing with military associations. For etymology, we seem to be reduced to speculation.

Its interesting that the SHA, Capella, and de Rebus Bellicis all date to roughly the century after 360. Does that suggest that the word entered learned usage in that period? Also, the full Historiae Augustae Divus Claudius reference is “albam subsericam
unam cum purpura Girbitana, subarmalem unum cum purpura Maura.” Subsericam for semisericam, forsooth!