arcula

Forms

arcula f (genitive arculae); first declension^[1] A shortened accusative arclam occurs in a papyrus document,^[2] and glossaries have arcla.^[3]

Etymology

It is from Latin arca (“chest, box”) + -ula, a diminutive.^[2][4][3] De Vaan sets up the diminutive as Proto-Italic *arkelā-, beside *arkā- (“container”), and traces the base to Proto-Indo-European *h₂r(ḱ)-h₂-.^[5] He compares Umbrian arçlataf (accusative plural), an unidentified sacrificial gift, perhaps from *arkelātā- (“small chest-like object”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Plautus:^[5][6] in the Mostellaria a woman asks for speculum et cum ornamentis arculam, “the mirror and the casket with my jewels”.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

It was a small box for jewels, perfumes, money or clothes.^[2][4] In Afranius someone asks whether a money-box is full of cobwebs, and Cicero speaks of women's caskets and, figuratively, of the rhetorical ornaments of Isocrates' pupils as their little boxes.^[4] Varro uses it for a box of colours,^[7] and Vitruvius for the wind chest of a water organ.^[2][8]

In Medieval Latin it was a coffer or the lid of one; an Old English glossary renders it with Old English tæg.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a jewel casket.^[2][6]
• second half of the 2nd century BC – Afranius uses it of a money-box.^[2][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it figuratively of rhetorical ornament.^[4]
• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of the wind chest of an organ.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small chest, box or casket, for jewels, perfumes, money or clothes.^[2][4][10]
2. (figurative) Rhetorical ornament.^[4]
3. The wind chest of an organ.^[2][8]
4. (Medieval Latin) A coffer, or its lid.^[9]

Word family

• arculārius
• arculāta

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ 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
10. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn