aqualis

Forms

aquālis (neuter aquāle); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin aqua (“water”) + -ālis.^[2][1][3] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of aqua, which goes back to Proto-Italic *akʷā (“water”).^[4] The noun, meaning a ewer, is the adjective used as a noun.^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the noun in Plautus,^[6][3] whose Curculio has a water jug with water asked for.^[3][5] De Vaan dates the word from Cato,^[4] who, as Festus reports, spoke of leaky jugs.^[5]

Semantic evolution

As an adjective it meant watery or rainy, and of vessels, for water:^[2] Varro speaks of rain clouds, nūbēs aquālēs,^[5][3] and Lucilius has the word too.^[3] As a masculine noun it named a basin or ewer for washing the hands.^[2][5] Festus reports Verrius as saying that a salt cellar used to stand on the table in place of an aquālis,^[3] and late texts also use it for a water channel.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses the noun for a water jug.^[3][6]
• 234–149 BC – Cato, quoted by Festus, mentions leaky ewers.^[5][4]
• 116–27 BC – Varro uses the adjective of rain clouds and explains the noun from aqua.^[5][3][6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Watery, rainy.^[2][5]
2. Of vessels: for water.^[2]

Noun

1. A water basin or ewer, for washing.^[2][5]

Word family

• aquāliculus

Usage notes

Varro explained the noun as named from aqua, water.^[5][3]

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 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. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de