arbuscula

Forms

arbuscula f (genitive arbusculae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is a diminutive, from Latin arbor (“tree”) + -cula,^[2][3][1] built, as Wiktionary notes, on the old stem in /s/ seen in the archaic nominative arbōs.^[1][4] Lewis and Short compare māiusculus beside māior.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Varro, in his work on agriculture, uses it of young trees set out in rows in new orchards.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Columella uses it of saplings, noting that young olive trees can be transplanted after five years.^[5][3] Pliny the Elder applies it to the crest of the peacock,^[2][3] and Vitruvius to the bearings in which an axle turns, which he says have a Greek name.^[2][3]

Medieval writers kept it for a small tree, shrub or sapling;^[6][7] Gervase of Tilbury tells of shrubs on the sea shore that grow to the size of willows.^[7]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of young trees in an orchard.^[2][5][8]
• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it for an axle bearing.^[2][3]
• 1st century AD – Columella uses it of olive saplings.^[5][3]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder applies it to the peacock's crest.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small or young tree, a shrub, a sapling.^[2][3]
2. Something resembling a small tree, such as the crest of a peacock.^[2][3]
3. (mechanics) A bearing for an axle.^[2][3]

Related words

• arbor
• arbustum

Usage notes

Arbuscula was also the name of an actress in mimes in Cicero's time, mentioned by Cicero in his letters to Atticus and by Horace in the Satires.^[2][3][9] The TLL notes that the name was borne mostly by freedwomen, and appears in inscriptions in the contracted form Arbuscla.^[5]

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 j k 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 k l Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon 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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ 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
8. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
9. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier