acucula

Forms

acūcula f (genitive acūculae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin acus (“needle”) + -cula (“diminutive suffix”), a diminutive of the word for a needle.^[2][3][4][1] The form ⟨acicula⟩ is also found.^[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Codex Theodosianus uses it for a small pin worn as an ornament in the hair.^[3][4][2]

Semantic evolution

Wiktionary dates the word from the 4th century AD on.^[1] Besides the hairpin of the Codex Theodosianus, Marcellus Empiricus used it for the needles of the pine tree.^[3][4] Glossaries render it with Greek words for a needle and a hairpin.^[2]

A Vulgar Latin ⟨*acucula⟩ lived on in the north Italian dialects and Romansh (Italian agucchia),^[1] and, through Provençal aguglia, in Italian guglia “spire”.^[6]

Timeline

• 438 AD – The Codex Theodosianus uses it for a hairpin.^[3][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small needle.^[4][1]
2. A hairpin worn as an ornament.^[3][2]
3. A pine needle.^[3][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b c d e Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
5. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier