Etymologically
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columella

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Forms

columella f (genitive columellae); first declension[1][2] Manuscripts often spell it columnella.[2]

Etymology

It is a diminutive, from Latin columna (“column”) + -ella.[1][3] De Vaan lists it with columna under columen (“summit, top”), from Proto-Italic *kelamen- and Proto-Indo-European *kelH-men- (“top, summit”), though he finds it hard to derive columna from columen by any normal process.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Cato on,[4][5] who uses it of the iron pivot that must stand upright in the middle of an olive mill.[1]

Semantic evolution

It is a small upright post or column,[1][2] and in technical writers a particular post: the pivot of an olive mill in Cato, the single pedestal of a stone table in Varro, the stanchion of a catapult and the marked pillar of a water clock in Vitruvius.[1] Cicero uses it of small columns set up as tombstones.[1][2] Figuratively it is a prop or mainstay: Lucilius' epitaph for a slave calls him his master's columella.[1][2] Medieval writers use it for small columns and posts of buildings, parts of machines,[6][7] and a column of writing on a page.[7][6]

Timeline

  • 234–149 BC – Cato, of the pivot of an olive mill.[1][5]
  • c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius, figuratively, of a faithful slave.[1][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero, of small columns on tombs.[1][2][5]
  • c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius, of parts of a catapult and a water clock.[1][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A small column, post or pillar.[1][2][8]
  2. The pivot of an olive mill; the pedestal of a table; the stanchion of a catapult; the pillar of a water clock.[1][2]
  3. A small column set up as a tombstone.[1]
  4. (figurative) A prop, support, mainstay.[1][2]
  5. (Medieval Latin) A column of writing on a page.[7][6]

Word family

  • columellaris

Usage notes

Columella was also a cognomen in the gens Junia; it was borne by Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella of Gades, the writer on agriculture.[2][3][9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b 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 c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  7. ^ a b c Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
  8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  9. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org