Etymologically
Log in

corpusculum

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 03:34. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [kɔrˈpʊs.kʊ.ɫũː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [korˈpus.ku.lum][1]

Forms

corpusculum n (genitive corpusculī); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin corpus (“body”) + -culum, a diminutive.[2][1][3] De Vaan traces corpus to Proto-Italic *korp-os- and Proto-Indo-European *ḱr̥p-os- (“body”), with cognates such as Old English hrif (“belly, womb”) and Avestan kəhrp- (“body, figure”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and the TLL date it from Plautus, who has it once, as a term of endearment for a wife.[4][3][5][6]

Semantic evolution

The TLL notes that after Plautus it reappears with Amafinius, Cicero and Lucretius.[3] It is a small body, often a person's, said with contempt, pity or affection: Celsus uses it of a stillborn child, and Juvenal of the puny bodies of men.[2][5] Augustus, in a letter quoted by Suetonius, teases a man who lacks height but not girth.[2] It is also a small object, and above all a minute particle, an atom: Lucretius uses it often, and Cicero notes that atoms are so called.[2][5] In medieval Latin it is a corpse.[7] English corpuscle comes from it, first of any small particle in the 1650s, later of blood cells.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus as a term of endearment.[3][5][6]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius of atoms.[5][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of the atoms of the Epicureans.[2][6]
  • 14–37 AD – Celsus of a stillborn child.[2][6]
  • 1650s – English corpuscle.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A small body; of a person, with contempt, pity or affection; playfully, plumpness.[2][5][1][9]
  2. A small object; a minute particle, an atom.[2][5][1]
  3. A term of endearment.[5][1]
  4. (Medieval Latin) A corpse.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d 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 f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  9. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson