clitellae

Forms

clītellae f pl (genitive clītellārum); first declension^[1]

Etymology

Formed with the diminutive suffix -ella, it is inherited from Proto-Italic *kleitrelā,^[1][2] a diminutive of *kleitrā (“support”),^[2][1] which de Vaan traces to Proto-Indo-European *ḱlei-tro/h₂- (“instrument for leaning, supporting”).^[2] Wiktionary gives the root as *ḱley- (“to shelter, cover”).^[1] The undiminished word survives in Umbrian kletram (accusative), a portable litter or seat for the images of the gods.^[2][3] De Vaan compares Middle Irish clithar (“shelter”) and, with another suffix, Old High German leitara (“ladder”).^[2] The TLL also connects it with acclīnō, clīvus and cliēns.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus on,^[2][4][5] meaning a packsaddle: in the Mostellaria it is said of an old man that vehit hic clitellas, “this one carries the packsaddle”.^[4][6]

Semantic evolution

Older writers use it only in the plural; the singular appears in glossaries and grammarians.^[4] Horace has mules at Capua putting down their packsaddles (hinc muli Capuae clitellas tempore ponunt),^[4][6] and Livy speaks of packsaddles tied to their loads.^[4] Phaedrus has binas mihi clitellas impositurum, “that he will put two packsaddles on me”.^[4][7]

A comic line quoted by Cicero and Ammianus says that the packsaddle has been put on an ox, of a task that does not suit the one who must do it.^[7][6] According to Paulus' epitome of Festus, the name was also given, from their shape, to a place in Rome and to some steep stretches of the Via Flaminia, and to an instrument of torture.^[3][8] Gregory of Tours writes ⟨cletellae⟩.^[7][4]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a packsaddle.^[4][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of columns brought on packsaddles.^[4][5]
• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of the mules at Capua.^[4][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of packsaddles tied to loads.^[4][5]
• c. 15 BC–c. 50 AD – Phaedrus uses it in a fable.^[4][5]
• 538/539–594 AD – Gregory of Tours writes it cletellae.^[7][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A packsaddle, especially for an ass or mule.^[3][8]
2. The name of a place in Rome and of some steep places on the Via Flaminia, from their shape.^[3][8]
3. An instrument of torture.^[8][9]

Word family

• clītellārius

Related words

• cliēns
• clīvus

Usage notes

The proverb bovi clītellās impōnere, “to put the packsaddle on an ox”, was said of giving someone a task they are not fit for.^[8][7][6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.