bubulcus

Forms

bubulcus m (genitive bubulcī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin bōs (“ox”), formed after subulcus (“swineherd”).^[2][1] Wiktionary calls the ending ⟨-bulcus⟩ “herd” and thinks the word likely shaped on the analogy of subulcus.^[1] The OLD compares the second element of that word with Ancient Greek φυλακός (phulakós, “guard”).^[2] The noun for ox goes back to Proto-Indo-European *gʷṓws (“cow”), its initial ⟨b⟩ probably from a Sabellic dialect.^[3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Cato;^[3][4] Georges also cites Lucilius and Cato's book on farming.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It is a man who drives or tends oxen, especially a ploughman or teamster,^[2][6] and so it is most frequent in the writers on farming, who distinguish him from the herdsman.^[6] It was sometimes used for any farm labourer or rustic.^[2] Varro, Cicero and Columella use it, and Juvenal and Ovid name the ploughman.^[6][5] In the Digest it is a herdsman in general.^[6]

In medieval Latin it was an oxherd,^[7] and in British sources occasionally a swineherd.^[7] In Ælfric's Colloquy, where it is glossed by Old English oxanhyrde, the oxherd says he leads the oxen to pasture when the ploughman unyokes them.^[7] It is also a Roman cognomen of the Junii.^[2][6]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato, in his book on farming.^[5][3][4]
• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius uses it.^[5][4]
• 116–27 BC – Varro, of the ploughman.^[6][5][4]
• 1st century AD – Columella, of the ploughman.^[6][5][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A man who drives or tends oxen, an ox-driver, ploughman, teamster.^[2][6][1]
2. A farm labourer, rustic.^[2][1]
3. (Late Latin) A herdsman, cowherd.^[6][1]
4. (Medieval Latin) An oxherd; rarely a swineherd.^[7]

Word family

• bubulcitō
• bubulcārius

Related words

• bōs
• bovīnus
• būbīle
• subulcus
• būbulus

Usage notes

Bubulcus was the cognomen of several men of the Junian family;^[2][8] Pliny the Elder says it was given to one who handled oxen very well.^[2][8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d 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. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften