Etymologically
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avicula

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Forms

avicula f (genitive aviculae); first declension[1][2] Sepulchral inscriptions have the shortened forms aucula and aucla.[3]

Etymology

It is from Latin avis (“bird”) + -cula.[1][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Varro names it in De lingua Latina, beside ⟨avis⟩ and ⟨aucella⟩, in a discussion of diminutives.[3][4][5][6]

Semantic evolution

Valerius Maximus tells of a man who served songbirds bought at huge prices in place of figpeckers.[3] A fragment of Suetonius uses it of the very smallest birds and their sound,[3][4] Fronto has a man fond of chicks, pigeons and sparrows,[3] Gellius retells Aesop's fable of a little bird's nest,[3][2] and Apuleius has singing birds drawn out by the warmth of spring.[3][2] Christian writers use it too: Ambrose of the sparrow, and Augustine of the turtledoves and pigeons that could be offered in sacrifice.[3] Caelius Aurelianus prescribes small birds, such as thrushes and figpeckers, as food for the sick, and Isidore of Seville calls butterflies little birds.[3][4]

It was also a pet name: an epitaph praises a sweet and chattering “little bird”, and Salvian writes of a girl who was called mother, little bird and lady in turn.[3][4] In medieval British texts it is a little bird, and once, figuratively, the soul or mind.[7]

Timeline

  • 116–27 BC – Varro names it among the diminutives of avis.[3][6]
  • c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it of the smallest birds.[3][4][6]
  • c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius writes of songbirds in spring.[3][2][6]
  • c. 165 AD – Gellius tells Aesop's fable of the little bird's nest.[3][2][6]
  • 435/439 AD – Salvian uses it as a pet name for a girl.[3][4][6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A small bird.[1][2][4][3]
  2. (as a term of endearment) Little bird, darling.[4][3]
  3. (Medieval Latin, figuratively) The soul or mind as a bird.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f 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 r 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 h i Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  5. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  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