agellus

Forms

agellus m (genitive agellī); second declension^[1][2] Cassiodorus has a neuter agellum.^[3]

Etymology

It is from Latin ager (“field”) + -lus, a diminutive.^[1][3] De Vaan traces ager to Proto-Italic *agro- (“field”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ-ro- (“uncultivated field, pasture”), derived from the root *h₂eǵ- "to drive, lead", and compares Ancient Greek ἀγρός (agrós, “field”) and Sanskrit अज्र (ájra-, “field”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL's first example is in Terence, where a character mentions a little piece of land near the city that is let out.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

It is a small plot or little field: Varro describes one no bigger than a single iugerum, and Cicero argues that the gods do not attend to the little fields and vines of individuals.^[2][1] The TLL records the plural as poetic from the Dirae on.^[3] It also became a name: a bishop Agellus of Terracina appears in 601, and Gregory the Great names an estate Agellus.^[3]

Timeline

• 190–159 BC – Terence of a little plot near the city.^[3][2][5]
• 116–27 BC – Varro of a field of one iugerum.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of the little fields of individuals.^[2][5]
• 601 AD – a bishop named Agellus.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small plot of land, a little field.^[1][2][3]

Word family

• agellulus

References

1. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de