Etymologically
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cellula

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈkɛl.lʊ.ɫa][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈt͡ʃɛl.lu.la][1]

Forms

cellula f (genitive cellulae); first declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin cella (“storeroom, small room”) + -ula, a diminutive.[2][1][3] The origin of the base is uncertain: de Vaan thinks it may preserve an older ⟨cēla⟩ beside cēlō (“to conceal”), or be a diminutive of the same root, and gives Proto-Indo-European *ḱēl- (“hiding”) with a question mark.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Terence has it first, for a slave's room:[2][4] quom in cellulam ad tē patris penum omnem congerēbam clanculum, “when I secretly piled all my father's stores into your little room”.[2]

Semantic evolution

It means a small room or cell: a slave's room, a mean or humble lodging, a porter's lodge, a prostitute's cubicle,[2] and in Columella hollowed cells like pigeon-holes.[2][5] The TLL notes the spelling ⟨cellola⟩ in late authors and inscriptions, such as a council at Orléans in 541 and Gregory of Tours.[3]

In Christian and medieval Latin it was a monk's dwelling within a monastery, a small monastery, often so called out of humility, or the house of a group of monks;[6] Gregory of Tours already calls a place cellula sānctī Maxentī, today's Saint-Maixent.[3] In Church Latin it also means a hut.[7] New Latin used it for the biological cell.[1]

Timeline

  • 190–159 BC – Terence uses it for a slave's room.[2][8]
  • 1st century AD – Columella uses it of hollowed cells like pigeon-holes.[2][8]
  • c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it for a porter's lodge.[2][8]
  • c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it for humble dwellings.[2][8]
  • 538/539–594 AD – Gregory of Tours writes it ⟨cellola⟩ and names a monastery cellula.[3][8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A small room, especially a slave's room.[2][5]
  2. A mean or humble dwelling.[2]
  3. A porter's lodge.[2]
  4. A prostitute's cubicle.[2]
  5. (Medieval Latin) A monk's cell; a small monastery.[6]
  6. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A hut.[7]
  7. (New Latin, biology) A cell.[1]

Word family

  • cellulanus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de