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apicula

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word apicula

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC Plautus, Curculio More words from the 3rd century BC
Ultimate origin
Latin apis
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin apis
Italian ape
Latin apicula
Italian pecchia
Spanish abeja
From the same root
Latin apium ← apis

Forms

apicula f (genitive apiculae); first declension[1][2]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin apis (“bee”) + -cula, as a diminutive.[1][3] The grammarian Priscian remarked that the diminutive has ⟨i⟩ where the nominative ⟨apes⟩ has a long ⟨e⟩.[3] De Vaan knows no accepted etymology for the base.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus (c. 250–184 BC)[5] speaks in the Curculio of a wax taper heaped up “by the work of little bees” (apicularum … opera).[3][2]

Semantic evolution

The OLD notes the word's affectionate tone.[1] Pliny the Elder uses it to describe tiny things, such as a carved ship that a little bee could hide under its wings, and says that the bee coming out shows that the beans are in flower.[3] Fronto counts the signs of ants and little bees among the omens of great events, and Palladius mentions larger bees that some take for kings.[3]

The TLL, after Meyer-Lübke, derives Romance words for the bee such as Italian pecchia from apicula or a form apecula.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus speaks of wax made by little bees.[3][5]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of a carving small enough to hide under a bee's wings.[3][5]
  • 100–170 AD – Fronto mentions omens of ants and little bees.[3][5]
  • end of 4th or beginning of 5th century AD – Palladius writes of larger bees that some think are kings.[3][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A little bee, often with an affectionate tone.[1][2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Apicula.” Etymologically, 13 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/la/apicula. Accessed 14 Nov. 2026.

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