Lexitechnia

Pliny on pyramids again (Naturalis Historia 36.17)

Pyramis amplissima ex Arabicis lapicidinis constat.

The largest pyramid is made from the Arabian quarries.

This is just about short enough to go without much comment except on the word lapicidinae ‘quarry/quarries’. This word is also found spelled lapidicinae, as indeed some copies of this text have it. The basic meaning, certainly, is a place where stone is cut, from lapis ‘stone,’ -cid- from caedo ‘cut‘, and -ina (as in officina, fodina, piscina…), though the proper sesquipedalian form one would expect from such components, namely *lapidicidinae, does not appear to occur. Lapicidinae at least can fit into common verses. What lapidicinae has going for it, I’m sure I don’t know.

[For pyramis.]