Etymologically
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capsula

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Forms

capsula f (genitive capsulae); first declension[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin capsa (“box, case”) + -ula, a diminutive.[1][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A rule of the priest of Jupiter quoted from Fabius Pictor by Gellius requires a small box with sacrificial cakes beside his bed.[3][2] The first dated use is in Catullus, of a box for books: huc una ex multis capsula me sequitur, “only one box out of many has followed me here”.[1][3]

Semantic evolution

It was a small box for books, clothes, jewels or money.[5][1] In Seneca's satire on Claudius, Clotho opens a box and takes out three spindles;[1] Pliny the Elder describes a remedy kept in little boxes and put under the head.[1] Seneca calls dandified young men de capsula toti, all “straight out of a bandbox”.[1][2]

In Medieval Latin it was a reliquary,[6][7] in church use the case of the corporal, and in medicine the membrane round the heart.[7] English took it over through French as capsule in the 1650s.[8] Italian capsula continues the Latin word.[9]

Timeline

  • 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus uses it of a box for books.[1][3]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of the box of the Fate Clotho, and in a proverb on dandies.[1]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of boxes for remedies.[1]
  • 1650s – English borrows it through French as capsule.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A small container for books.[1]
  2. A small box or casket.[1][2][5]
  3. (Medieval Latin) A reliquary.[6][7]
  4. (Medieval Latin, Ecclesiastical) The case or cover of the corporal.[7]
  5. (Medieval Latin) The membrane enclosing the heart.[7]

Usage notes

Dē capsulā tōtus “all out of the bandbox” (Seneca) was said of someone too neatly groomed.[2][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
  5. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  6. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  7. ^ a b c d e 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  9. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier