Etymologically
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buccella

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Forms

buccella f (genitive buccellae); first declension[1] Georges notes that the best manuscripts mostly spell it bucella (also bucilla); the Tironian notes have buccilla, and Apicius bocellas.[2][3]

Etymology

It is a diminutive, from Latin bucca (“cheek, mouth”) + -ella.[4][3][1] Wiktionary compares buccea (“a mouthful”).[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Martial is the first to use it: someone who sends him a thrush, a piece of cake or a hare's leg is said to have sent buccellae, morsels.[3][4][5]

Semantic evolution

In the cookery book of Apicius it is a small piece of bread or food.[6][7] Christian Latin used it for a morsel of bread: the Old Latin Bible and later the Vulgate have it for the morsel Jesus dipped and gave to Judas, after which Satan entered him,[3] and the Vulgate has it in Genesis and in the Book of Ruth, of a morsel dipped in vinegar.[3][6] Proverbs says melior est buccella sicca cum gaudiō quam domus plēna, “better is a dry morsel with joy than a full house”.[3] The Theodosian Code uses it for the small loaves given out to the poor,[6][2] and Anthimus for pieces of baked white bread.[2]

In Medieval Latin it meant a small white loaf as well as a mouthful;[8] Bede uses it of a morsel,[9] and a late English glossary gives it for the cheek.[9] It survives in Italian buccella and Romanian bucea, and was borrowed into Basque as okela.[1][3]

Timeline

  • 40–102/103 AD – Martial uses it of morsels of food sent as a gift.[3][4][5]
  • after 220 AD – The Old Latin Bible uses it of the morsel given to Judas.[3][5]
  • 4th century AD – Apicius uses it in recipes.[6][5]
  • 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it in Genesis, Ruth and Proverbs.[3][5]
  • 438 AD – The Theodosian Code uses it for loaves given to the poor.[6][2][5]
  • 511 AD – Anthimus uses it for pieces of white bread.[2][5]
  • early 8th century AD – Bede uses it of a morsel.[9][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A small mouthful of food, a morsel.[4][6][2]
  2. (Late Latin) A morsel or piece of bread; the sop given to Judas.[3][2]
  3. (Late Latin) A small loaf given out to the poor.[6][2]
  4. (Medieval Latin) A small white loaf.[8]
  5. (Medieval Latin) The cheek.[9]

Word family

  • buccellaris
  • buccellārius
  • buccellātum
  • bucellārius
  • buccellāgō

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  9. ^ 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