buccula

Forms

buccula f (genitive bucculae); first declension^[1] Also spelled būcula.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin bucca (“cheek”) + -ula (“diminutive suffix”), a diminutive of the word for the cheek.^[2][1][4] De Vaan considers the base of uncertain origin: he reconstructs Proto-Italic *bukkā- only with a question mark and notes that Ernout and Meillet suspected a Celtic source, comparing beccus (“beak”) and Celtic personal names.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first author to use it is Vitruvius,^[6] who calls bucculae the cheek-like wooden pieces of a frame for moving columns.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it named a small or pretty cheek, said affectionately,^[2][3] the cheekpiece of a helmet,^[2][3] and parts of machines shaped or working like cheeks, such as the two side pieces of the channel holding the bolt of a catapult.^[2][1]

In Late Latin it came to mean the boss of a shield,^[7] and medieval writers used it for a boss or knob, a metal ring and a buckle.^[8][9] Through Old French ⟨bocle⟩ it gave English buckle,^[7] and it lives on in Italian boccola.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 84–25 BC – Vitruvius uses it for parts of machines.^[2][6]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy speaks of cleaning helmets and their cheekpieces (galeas bucculasque).^[2][6]
• c. 75–150 AD – Suetonius uses it affectionately for a cheek.^[2][6]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius speaks of the cheek of Cupid (Cupidinis buccula).^[3][6]
• c. 1300 – English borrows the Old French form as bukel, a buckle.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. (affectionate) A little cheek.^[2][3]
2. The cheekpiece of a helmet.^[2][3]
3. A part of a machine shaped like a cheekpiece or doing its work, e.g. a strip of wood in a frame, or either side piece of the bolt channel of a catapult.^[2][1]
4. (Medieval Latin) The boss of a shield; a knob.^[8][9]
5. (Medieval Latin) A metal ring, a buckle.^[8]
6. (Medieval Latin) A basin or kettle.^[9]

Related words

• bucca
• buccella
• English buckle

Usage notes

The MLW lists a separate rare medieval buccula, a wind instrument, perhaps a horn or trumpet, found in a text Köbler dates to 1206; the MLW derives it from bucula and compares Old French bugle.^[9][6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ 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 c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ a b c d Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften