adminiculum

Forms

adminiculum n (genitive adminiculī); second declension^[1] It is also spelled amminiculum, and Plautus has the syncopated adminiclum.^[2]

Etymology

The origin is disputed.^[3] De Vaan, following Walde and Hofmann and Serbat, takes it as ad- with Proto-Italic *mino- (“structure, support”), from Proto-Indo-European *(H)mi-no-, the root of moenia “defensive walls”, meaning “to build”;^[3] Ernout and Meillet and Leumann prefer the root of minae “threats”, “protruding parts”, and ēmineō, and de Vaan finds the first view more likely because of the prefix.^[3] The OLD compares Sanskrit मिनोति (minóti) and moenia.^[2] Lewis & Short and Wiktionary instead derive it from ad- and manus “hand”, with the suffix -culum, as that on which the hand may rest.^[4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler and the OLD find it first in Plautus,^[5][2] in whom someone is given some relative as a prop.^[2] De Vaan dates it from Cato.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short say it was first a vine-dresser's word for the stake to which a vine clings.^[4] Cicero writes that vines grasp their props with their tendrils as if with hands.^[2] It is any prop or support: Livy has men whose very supports slip from under them as they try to rise.^[2] Of people and things it is a support, a mainstay, as in Plautus, and in law an argument supporting a claim.^[2] Varro uses it of tools, distinguishing men from the implements of men.^[2] In medieval Latin it is corroborative evidence.^[6] Church Latin glosses it support, prop, assistance.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a relative as a prop.^[2][5]
• 234–149 BC – Cato.^[3][5]
• 116–27 BC – Varro of tools.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of the props of vines.^[2][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of supports that give way.^[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A prop for vines, a pole, stake; any prop or support.^[2][4][1]
2. A support, aid, mainstay;^[2][1][7] (law) an argument supporting a claim.^[2][1][7]
3. An instrument, implement, tool.^[2]
4. (Medieval Latin) Corroborative evidence.^[6]

Related words

• moenia

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson