sellary

English

Etymology 1

Latin sellārius

Noun

sellary (plural sellaries)

1. (obsolete) A male prostitute.
   • 1598, Richard Greenway, transl., Annals, translation of Ab excessu Divi Augusti historiarum libri by P. Cornelius Tacitus, published 1622, book VI, section i, page 121:

     Then first of all were those vnknowen words of Sellaries and Spintries found out of the filthines of the place.

   • 1603, Benjamin Jonson, Sejanus, act IV, scene v:

     Others Are rauish’d hence…and…dealt away Vnto his Spintries, Sellaries, and Slaues.

Etymology 2

Italian sellaria

Noun

sellary (plural sellaries)

1. (obsolete, rare) A public gathering place with benches or stools for sitting on.
   • 1650, James Howell, transl., An Exact Hiſtory of the late Revolutions in Naples; and of their Monſtrous Succeſſes, not to be parallel’d by any Antient or Modern Hiſtory., London: R. Lowndes at the White Lion in St. Pauls Church yard., translation of Le Riuolutioni di Napoli by Alessandro Giraffi, published 1664, “Wedneſday, July 10. 1647. The fourth Day.”, page 68:

     It was diſcover’d alſo by the confeſſion of other Banditi, being put upon the rack, that by the machinations of Duke Mataloni, and his brother Perrone and Graſſa, having the chief hand therein, that the waters which by Aqueducts ſerv’d the city of Naples were poiſon’d, as alſo the corne, which after much diligence being found to be true, ſpecially in thoſe Ciſterns which receive the raine water, as in the Sellaries, the publick Markets, & other places inhabited by the meaner ſort of people, for it was proved that two poor children had died by thoſe waters; therefore the Aqueducts which conveyed thoſe waters being broken ope, notice was given by ſound of Trumpet and Drums, with Bills fix’d on all quarters of the city, that none ſhold drink of thoſe waters that paſs’d through the Formale, which was the common Aqueduct.

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Noun

sellary

1. Obsolete spelling of salary
   • 1516 May 24th, Lyon Percehay, “The will of Lyon Percehay, Esq., of Ryton. ” (will № i), in John William Clay, editor, Testamenta Eboracensia. A Selection of Wills from the Registry at York. (The Publications of the Surtees Society; CVI), volume VI, Durham/Paternoster Square/Piccadilly/Edinburgh: Andrews & Co./Whittaker & Co./Bernard Quaritch/Blackwood & Sons, published 1902, page 2:

     And further I will that a descritt and an honeste preste have sellary to syng for my soull, my wyff and myn ancesters, by the space of iij yeres.

   • 1817, Memoirs of the life and writings of George Buchanan, page 371:

     The sellary of the rector, thesaurer, and censor, to be payed off the casualities of the universitie, as it that comes of the entries of the students in the rectors book, and of the degrees.

Etymology 4

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Noun

sellary (uncountable)

1. Obsolete spelling of celery
   • 1690, An English Herbal, page 56:

     Sellary eat in Sallad warms the Stomach; boil'd in Gruel, it helps a short Breath

   • 1727 July 1st, Jonathan Swift, “Letter XVIII: from Dr. Swift to Dr. Sheridan”, in Miſcellanies, volume 10, published 1745, pages 110–111:

     Pray aſk Mr. Synge whether his Fenocchio be grown; it is now fit to eat here, and we eat it like Sellary, either with or without Oil, &c.

Further reading

male prostitute

• James A. H. Murray [et al.], editors (1884–1928), “† Se·llary¹”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), volumes VIII, Part 2 (S–Sh), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 430, column 1.
• “† sellary, n.¹”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

Italian derivation

• James A. H. Murray [et al.], editors (1884–1928), “† Se·llary²”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), volumes VIII, Part 2 (S–Sh), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 430, column 1.
• “† sellary, n.²”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

salary

• James A. H. Murray [et al.], editors (1884–1928), “Salary, sb.”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), volumes VIII, Part 2 (S–Sh), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 48.
• “salary, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

celery

• James A. H. Murray [et al.], editors (1884–1928), “Sellary”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), volumes VIII, Part 2 (S–Sh), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 430, column 1.
• “celery, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.