Etymologically
Log in

codicillus

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 19 October 2026 at 16:49. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Forms

cōdicillus m (genitive cōdicillī); second declension[1] Seneca has the form cōdicellus.[2][3]

Etymology

It is a diminutive from Latin cōdex (“tree trunk; book”) + -illus,[1][3] the OLD giving the older form caudex as its base.[2] De Vaan derives caudex from the stem of cauda (“tail”), going back to Proto-Italic *kaudek- and Proto-Indo-European *keh₂u-d- (“cleaved, separate”); ⟨cōdex⟩ is the younger form, used of books.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Cato,[5] who has it in its literal sense: “stack the small logs in a heap for the owner”.[2]

Semantic evolution

From a small log it came, in the plural, to mean a set of writing tablets, as in Cicero's “he was writing your opinions in his tablets”, and a note or letter written on them.[2][6] Under the empire it is an emperor's rescript or written order, as in Tacitus, and also a petition to the emperor.[2] It is also a supplement to a will or other posthumous instructions, a codicil;[2][1] Tacitus has defamatory writings published under the title of codicils.[2][1]

Church Latin glosses it “appendix to a will, codicil, brief written note”.[7]

Timeline

  • 234–149 BC – Cato of small logs.[2][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of writing tablets and letters.[2][5]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus of imperial rescripts, petitions and codicils.[2][5]
  • early 15th century – Borrowed into English as codicil.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A small log.[2][1]
  2. (plural) Writing tablets; a note, letter.[2][6][1]
  3. An imperial rescript; a petition to the emperor.[2][1]
  4. A codicil to a will.[2][1][7]

Word family

  • cōdicillāris

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ 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 c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com