Etymologically

canaliculatus

Etymology and origin of the Latin word canaliculatus

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
Pliny the Elder
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek (κάννα)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin canaliculatus

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ka.naː.lɪ.kʊˈɫaː.tʊs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ka.na.li.kuˈlaː.tus][1]

Forms

canāliculātus (feminine canāliculāta, neuter canāliculātum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin canāliculus (“small channel”) + -ātus.[2][3][1] ⟨canāliculus⟩ is a diminutive of canālis (“channel, pipe”).[1] ⟨canālis⟩ is from ⟨*cannālis⟩, from canna (“reed, cane”), a borrowing of Ancient Greek κάννα (kánna, “reed”).[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its source is Pliny the Elder's Natural History.[4][5][6] Köbler dates Pliny 23/24–79 AD.[6]

Semantic evolution

It meant channelled, grooved, fluted, like a channel or pipe, as of plants in Pliny.[2][4][5] It survives as Italian canalicolato.[1]

Timeline

  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it.[4][6]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Channelled, grooved, fluted.[2][5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Canaliculatus.” Etymologically, 16 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/canaliculatus. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.

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