amiculum

Forms

amiculum n (genitive amiculī); second declension^[1] A papyrus has amicl-.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin amiciō (“to throw around, clothe”) + -ulum.^[2][1][3] De Vaan lists amiciō among the compounds of iaciō (“to throw”), and reports Schrijver's view that it continues ⟨*ambic-i-⟩.^[4] Festus explains it as a kind of garment named from its being thrown around the body.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has it first,^[6] in the Cistellaria: amiculum hoc sustolle, “pick up this cloak”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is an outer garment, a mantle or cloak.^[2][5] Cicero has a man wrapped in his mistress's cloak, and Nepos has a rustic double cloak.^[5] Sallust uses it of clothing in general: a man reclined at dinner in an embroidered toga.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, of a cloak.^[2][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero, of a mistress's cloak.^[5][6]
• c. 100–24 BC – Nepos, of a rustic double cloak.^[5][6]
• 86–34 BC – Sallust, of clothing at dinner.^[2][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. An outer garment, mantle, cloak.^[2][5][1]
2. (also plural) Clothing, dress.^[2]

Related words

• amiciō
• amictus
• pallium
• vestis

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ 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 d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de