amiculum
This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 13:23. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Pronunciation
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
Related words
References
- ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
- ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
- ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de