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circellus

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word circellus

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
300s Apicius More words from the 3rd century
Ultimate origin
Latin circus
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Ancient Greek κρίκος (kríkos)
Latin circus
Romanian cerc
English circus
Latin circulus
Catalan cercle
French cercle
Italian cerchio
Old French cercle
English circle
Spanish círculo
Latin circellus
Romanian cercel
From the same root
Ancient Greek κίρκος (kírkos) ← κρίκος
Latin circinus ← circus
Latin circiter ← circus
Latin circō ← circus
Latin circum ← circus
Latin circulāris ← circulus
Latin circulō ← circulus
English encircle ← cercle

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [kɪrˈkɛl.lʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [t͡ʃirˈt͡ʃɛl.lus][1]

Forms

circellus m (genitive circellī); second declension[1] Medieval texts also spell it cercellus.[2][1]

Etymology

It is a diminutive from Latin circulus (“small ring, circle”),[3][4][1] itself a diminutive of circus (“circle”).[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest author to use it is Apicius in the 4th century AD, for a ring-shaped sausage or meatball.[5][6][7]

Semantic evolution

Its basic sense was a small ring, as in the scholia on Juvenal.[3][6][7] In Medieval Latin it meant a ring or hoop and a circle,[8] and also an earring.[2][1] The Romance descendants include Romanian cercel, French cerceau and Spanish zarcillo.[4]

Timeline

  • 4th century AD – Apicius uses it for a ring-shaped sausage.[5][6][9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A small ring or hoop.[3][1]
  2. A ring-shaped sausage or meatball.[5][6][7]
  3. (Medieval Latin) An earring.[2][1]
  4. (Medieval Latin) A circle.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  6. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  8. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  9. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Circellus.” Etymologically, 13 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/la/circellus. Accessed 14 Nov. 2026.

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