Etymologically
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catinus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [kaˈtiː.nʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [kaˈtiː.nus][1]

Forms

catīnus m (genitive catīnī); second declension[1] Also neuter catīnum, clearly so only in Cato.[2][3]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.[4][5] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *katīno- and notes that it has been connected with Ancient Greek κοτύλη (kotúlē, “bowl, dish”); since the Greek word is not an exact match and names of vessels are often borrowed, he thinks it best to take it as a loanword.[4] The OLD compares the Greek word and Old English heden,[2] and Varro connected it with a Sicilian word κάτινον (kátinon).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found first in Cato,[4][6] who has the neuter: catīnum fictile oleō unguitō, “grease an earthenware bowl with oil”.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is a deep bowl or dish for serving or cooking food,[2][3] used by Lucilius, Varro and Horace, who has it several times in the Satires, and later by Persius and Juvenal.[2][3] Things of a similar shape took the name: the chamber of a force pump in Vitruvius,[2][3] a crucible for smelting and a natural hollow in rocks in Pliny the Elder,[2] and a censer in Suetonius.[3] Medieval Latin kept it as a dish or bowl: Lanfranc's monastic constitutions have monks washing their feet in bowls, and Bartholomaeus Anglicus says that it is better used as a neuter than as a masculine.[7] De Vaan lists its diminutive catīllus, also from Cato.[4]

Timeline

  • 234–149 BC – Cato uses the neuter.[2][4][6]
  • c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius uses it.[2]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace uses it in the Satires.[2][3]
  • c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of part of a pump.[2][3]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of a crucible.[2][3]
  • c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it of a censer.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A large bowl or dish, for serving or cooking food.[2][3][1]
  2. The main chamber of a type of force pump.[2][3]
  3. A crucible used in smelting.[2][3]
  4. A natural hollow in rocks.[2][3]
  5. A censer.[3]

Word family

  • catīllus

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  6. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ 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