Etymologically
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columellus

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Forms

columellus m (genitive columellī); second declension[1][2] Medieval spellings include colomellus, colimellus and collupnellus.[3][2]

Etymology

The TLL derives it from columna (“column, pillar”),[1] and Isidore of Seville explains that people call the canine teeth so for their length, breadth and roundness.[1] Köbler refers it instead to columen (“summit, top”),[2] and the DMLBS equates it with the classical adjective columellāris, used of the canine teeth.[3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first use is in the veterinary treatise of Chiron, of a draught animal that has broken its jaw near the canine teeth (iūxtā columellōs).[1][2]

Semantic evolution

It remained a late and popular word for the canine tooth:[1] the Latin Dioscorides says that the canine of a mad dog, hung round the neck, keeps off the bite of a rabid dog, and Isidore records it as the common people's word.[1] Medieval glossaries in Britain render it with English words for a tusk or long tooth,[3] and Polish sources of the 16th century use it for a fang.[4] Köbler also gives the sense of a small column or post.[2] It survives in Spanish colmillo “canine tooth”.[1]

Timeline

  • 4th century AD – Chiron uses it of the canine teeth of a draught animal.[1][2]
  • 6th century AD (?) – The Latin Dioscorides mentions the canine of a mad dog worn as an amulet.[1][2]
  • c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville records it as the popular name of the canine teeth.[1][2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (Late Latin) A canine tooth, eye tooth; a tusk, fang.[1][3][2][4]
  2. A small column or post.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  3. ^ a b c d 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
  4. ^ a b Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl