Etymologically
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angularis

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 23 October 2026 at 11:21. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [aŋ.ɡʊˈɫaː.rɪs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [aŋ.ɡuˈlaː.ris][1]

Forms

angulāris (neuter angulāre); third-declension two-termination adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin angulus (“corner, angle”) + -āris.[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cato asks for pillars ex lapide angulārī in his work on farming;[2][4][5] the OLD takes this as stone placed at the corners, Lewis & Short as squared stone.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Vitruvius uses it of corner columns, which he says must be made thicker, and of corner pillars.[3][4] Land surveyors use it of fields with corners.[2] In the cookery book of Apicius angulāris alone is a square dish.[4][6]

In the Vulgate the lapis angulāris is the cornerstone, and in the prophets and the letters of the New Testament it becomes a figure of Christ;[4] the Vulgate also has angulāria for a carpenter's square.[6] Medieval writers kept both uses: the Law of the Bavarians speaks of a corner post of a house,[7] charters of boundary marks at corners,[7] and Christian writers of Christ as the cornerstone.[7] English took angular in the 1590s, and earlier in an astrological sense.[8]

Timeline

  • 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of stone for pillars.[2][5]
  • c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of corner columns.[3][5]
  • 4th century AD – The cookery book of Apicius uses it of a square dish.[4][6][5]
  • 390–406 AD – The Vulgate calls Christ the lapis angulāris.[4][5]
  • 1590s – English borrows angular.[8]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Placed at a corner, corner-: lapis angulāris “cornerstone”.[2][4]
  2. Having angles or corners, angular.[2][4]

Noun

  1. A square dish.[4][6]
  2. (plural, angulāria) A carpenter's square.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ a b c Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com