corbula

Forms

corbula f (genitive corbulae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin corbis (“basket”) + -ula, a diminutive.^[2][3][1] De Vaan traces the base to Proto-Italic *k(o)rfi- (“basket”) and, with a question mark, Proto-Indo-European *k(o)rbʰ-i- (“basket, wickerwork”).^[4] Words such as Lithuanian kar̃bas (“basket”) look similar, but many scholars take the Baltic and Slavic words as loans from Germanic (compare German Korb), which itself borrowed the Latin word, so de Vaan leaves the question open.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus is the first to use it:^[4][5] in the Aulularia, inde coctam cenam sursum subducemus corbulis, “from there we will haul the cooked dinner up in baskets”.^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

Varro says that the smaller baskets were called corbulae after the corbis.^[3][7] Cato lists twenty baskets from Ameria among farm equipment and has baskets mended for the vintage,^[3] Caecilius writes of a basket of bread,^[3] and Columella and Suetonius use it too.^[7][6] The OLD also gives the sense “basketful”.^[2] It survives in Italian chiorba, and Italian also borrowed it as corbula.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus has dinner hauled up in baskets.^[3][4][5]
• 234–149 BC – Cato lists baskets among farm equipment.^[3][7][5]
• 116–27 BC – Varro explains the word from corbis.^[3][5]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it.^[7][6][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small basket.^[2][7][6]
2. A basketful.^[2]

Related words

• corbis
• corbīta

Usage notes

Corbula is also found as a woman's name in an inscription (CIL IV 3081).^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ 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
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 d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press