culcita

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈkʊɫ.kɪ.ta]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈkul̠ʲ.t͡ʃi.ta]^[1]

Forms

culcita f (genitive culcitae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

There is no accepted etymology.^[2][1] The comparison with Sanskrit कूर्च (kūrcá-, “bunch of grass”), made by the OLD and Pokorny, is rejected by de Vaan,^[2][3][4] and Wiktionary lists other proposals, such as a link with Ancient Greek κόλπος (kólpos, “bosom”).^[1] Varro and Festus derived it from calcāre or inculcāre “to tread, stuff in”, because the stuffing was pressed into it.^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus onwards.^[2][7] Plautus uses it in a joke about a sword: gladium faciam culcitam “I will make the sword my mattress”, meaning “I will fall on it”.^[5][8]

Semantic evolution

Its sense was a sack stuffed with feathers, wool or hair to lie on, a mattress or cushion.^[3][5] Cato lists it in the furnishings of a farm, and Cicero and Varro mention the culcita plumea, a feather bed.^[5][8] A spelling culcitra appears in Petronius and in manuscripts.^[3][6]

In medieval Latin it came to mean a blanket, coverlet or quilt,^[9][10] the sense of its Old French descendant cuilte, from which English took English quilt.^[11]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^[2][7]
• 234–149 BC – Cato lists mattresses among farm equipment.^[5][7]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero mentions a feather bed.^[5][7]
• Middle Ages – It means a coverlet or quilt.^[9][10]
• c. 1300 – English borrows the Old French descendant as English quilt, first meaning a stuffed mattress.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A stuffed mattress or cushion for a bed or couch.^[3][5]
2. A small pad for the eye.^[5]
3. (Medieval Latin) A blanket, coverlet, quilt.^[9][10]

Word family

• culcitarius
• culcitula

Related words

• English quilt

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
9. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
10. ^ a b c Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com