anulus

Forms

ānulus m (genitive ānulī); second declension^[1] Lewis and Short reject the spelling annulus.^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from ānus (“ring”) with the suffix -ulus;^[3][1][2] Lewis and Short note that it is not felt as a diminutive, like circulus from circum.^[3][1][2] De Vaan traces ⟨ānus⟩ “ring” to Proto-Italic *āno- (“ring”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₁eh₂no- (“ring”), cognate with Old Irish áinne (“ring”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Naevius, in a comedy: ānulum dat aliī spectandum, “he gives the ring to another to look at”.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

It is a finger ring, above all a signet ring for sealing;^[3][2] Plautus has a man set his own ring against another's.^[3][2] The TLL notes that people carried one not for ornament but for sealing, so that only one was allowed, and only to the free.^[6] A gold ring marked senatorial or equestrian rank, and iūs ānulōrum was the right to wear one; rings were put off in mourning, as Livy's senators lay aside their gold rings.^[3] It is also a ring for other uses, a link of mail (Lucretius), a small circle (Varro), a curl of hair (Seneca), and in architecture a fillet (Vitruvius).^[3]

Church Latin glosses it “ring”.^[7] In Medieval Latin it is a seal ring, especially a bishop's.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 235–200 BC – Naevius of a ring.^[3][5]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a signet ring.^[2][5]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius of an iron ring.^[3][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of gold rings laid aside.^[3][5]
• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius of a fillet in architecture.^[3][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A finger ring, especially a signet ring.^[3][1][7]
2. A gold ring as a mark of rank;^[3] iūs ānulōrum, the right to wear one.^[3]
3. A ring (for other uses); a link of mail.^[3]
4. A small circle; a curl of hair;^[3] (architecture) a fillet, annulet.^[3]
5. (Medieval Latin) A bishop's seal ring.^[8]

Word family

• ānulāris
• ānulārius
• ānulātus

Related words

• ānellus
• ānus
• signum

Usage notes

Lewis and Short list a separate diminutive of ānus in its other sense, the fundament, once in Cato.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
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 i j k l m n o p q Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill