anniculus

Forms

anniculus (feminine annicula, neuter anniculum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin annus (“year”), but the details of its formation are disputed.^[2][3][1] The OLD and the TLL take it as a diminutive in -ulus of an unattested adjective *annicus,^[2][4] while Wiktionary explains it as a back-formation from *bienniculus, from biennis (“two years old”) and the diminutive suffix -culus.^[1] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of annus, which goes back to Proto-Italic *atno- (“year”) and Proto-Indo-European *h2et-no-.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cato is the first to use it, of nuts one and two years old.^[2][5][3]

Semantic evolution

It was used of animals and things a year old, such as a bull or wine in Varro,^[5] and also of a person's age.^[2] Apuleius gives it the sense “lasting only a year”.^[2] The Vulgate uses it often of yearling lambs, calves and goats.^[5] Inscriptions also have the forms ⟨annuculus⟩ and ⟨annuclus⟩.^[4]

In medieval Latin it was also a noun, a yearling lamb,^[6][7] and in Britain a yearling heifer or steer.^[8]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of nuts a year old.^[2][7]
• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of a bull and of wine.^[5][7]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it of something lasting only a year.^[2][7]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it of yearling lambs and calves.^[5][7]
• 3rd quarter of the 8th century – The Lex Salica uses it as a noun.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. One year old, yearling; also of a person's age.^[2][5]
2. Lasting only a year.^[2]

Noun

1. (Medieval Latin) A yearling lamb, heifer or steer.^[6][8]

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. ^ a b c 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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press