Etymologically
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bacula

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Forms

bācula f (genitive bāculae); first declension[1][2] Köbler also records the spellings ⟨baccula⟩ and ⟨vaccula⟩.[3]

Etymology

It is from Latin bāca (“berry”) + -ula, a diminutive.[1][4][2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pliny the Elder uses it first: some kinds of birthwort bear small berries, like the caper.[4][1][3]

Semantic evolution

Arnobius has it of olives and of the fruit of wild branches,[4][2] and Caelius Aurelianus of myrtle berries.[4][2] Theodorus Priscianus uses it figuratively for a small ball in a medical instrument.[4] The TLL traces Italian ⟨bagola⟩ and Portuguese ⟨bagoa⟩ “tear” to it.[4] Medieval British Latin applied it to the berry-like scale insect from which a red dye was made.[6]

Timeline

  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of the berries of birthwort.[4][1][3]
  • 297–310 AD – Arnobius uses it of olives.[4][2][3]
  • 5th century AD – Caelius Aurelianus speaks of myrtle berries.[4][2][3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A small berry.[1][7][2][5]
  2. (Late Latin) A small round body, a globule.[4]
  3. (Medieval Latin) The berry-like body of the cochineal insect.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  3. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  6. ^ 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
  7. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press