Etymologically
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clanculum

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈkɫaŋ.kʊ.ɫũː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈklaŋ.ku.lum][1]

Forms

clanculum (adverb and preposition)[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin clam (“secretly”) + -culum, a diminutive formed directly on the adverb, as plūsculum on ⟨plūs⟩.[3][2] De Vaan traces clam to Proto-Italic *klām and perhaps Proto-Indo-European *ḱl-eh2- (“concealment”), but finds its Indo-European origin less clear.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and the OLD record it from Plautus,[3][2] as in the Amphitruo: clanculum abii, “I slipped away secretly”.[2]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short call it ante-classical but frequent:[4] Plautus and Terence use it often, Lucilius of goods carried out of a harbour secretly, and the Bellum Hispaniense once.[2] Terence also has it once as a preposition with the accusative, clanculum patres, without the fathers' knowledge.[2][4] Late prose also has it, for example Hegesippus, where Nero withdraws secretly to a suburban estate.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, “secretly”.[2][3][6]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence, as a preposition, “without the knowledge of”.[2][6]
  • c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius, of goods carried out of a harbour.[2][6]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. Secretly, privately, by stealth.[2][4][1]

Preposition

  1. With the accusative: without the knowledge of.[2][4][1]

Word family

  • clanculārius

Usage notes

Döderlein groups it with clam as “secretly” in contrast to palam, openly, while occultē stands against apertē.[7]

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper