calix
Pronunciation
Forms
calix m (genitive calicis); third declension[1]
Etymology
It is inherited from Proto-Italic *(s)kalik-,[2][1] the same word as Umbrian skalçeta (“from the sacrificial vessel”).[2] It resembles Ancient Greek κύλιξ (kúlix, “drinking cup”);[2] Schrijver connects them through a form Proto-Indo-European *kʷlH-ik-, but de Vaan thinks Latin and Greek may both have taken a word for “vessel” from a substrate language, and Beekes finds the Greek word Pre-Greek in shape.[2] Etymonline likewise suggests both may be loanwords from the same non-Indo-European language.[3] The OLD and the TLL compare Sanskrit कलश (kaláśa-, “jar, pot”), a connection de Vaan finds doubtful because of its different ablaut,[4][5][2] and Wiktionary also compares σκάλλιον (skállion, “small cup”).[1][2] Macrobius says the Greek name of a cup is the Latin word with one letter changed.[6]
Earliest recorded meaning
De Vaan dates it from Plautus,[2] who uses it of pots and dishes smashed in a kitchen and of a wine cup touched on the sly.[4]
Semantic evolution
In early Latin it is a vessel for food, a pot or dish, as in Plautus, Cato and Varro;[4][6] Cato also uses pierced pots for layering fruit trees.[4][6] Its commonest sense is a cup, especially a wine cup, and by metonymy the wine in it, as in Catullus' call for bitterer cups.[4][6] In the aqueduct system it was a short brass pipe of fixed diameter between the main and a private line.[4][6] Pliny the Elder uses it of cup-shaped shells and of the seed vessel of a plant, though some of these may belong to calyx.[4]
In Church Latin it is the chalice of the Mass,[7][8] and Old English borrowed it as cælic;[3] English chalice came through Old French in the early 14th century.[3]
Timeline
- c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of pots and of a wine cup.[4][2][9]
- 234–149 BC – Cato the Elder of pots for layering trees.[4][9]
- 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus of cups of wine.[4][9]
- 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of shells and seed vessels.[4][9]
- early 14th century – English takes chalice through Old French.[3]
Meanings
Noun
- A vessel for food, a pot, dish.[4][6][1]
- A cup, especially a wine cup; a cupful of wine.[4][6][1]
- A short length of brass pipe fixing the flow from an aqueduct.[4][6][1]
- A cup-shaped shell; the calyx of a plant.[4]
- (Ecclesiastical Latin) A chalice.[7][8]
Word family
- calicellus
- caliculus
Related words
- English chalice
Usage notes
Döderlein distinguishes poculum, an ordinary cup for meals, from calix, a rarer goblet for feasts, both old Latin words.[10] The TLL treats calix for the plant's cup as a form of calyx.[5]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f g h de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
- ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
- ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
- ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
- ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
- ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper