Etymologically
Log in

culter

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 19 October 2026 at 18:16. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈkʊɫ.tɛr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈkul.ter][1]

Forms

culter m (genitive cultrī); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *k(e/o)l-tro- (“knife”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kolh₂/₃-tro- (“instrument for cleaving”), if it belongs to the root “to split, cleave”;[2] Leumann explained it instead by dissimilation from ⟨*ke/ortro-⟩, from the root Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to shear, cut off”), but de Vaan prefers the root in ⟨-l-⟩, which needs no extra assumption.[2][1] The OLD calls it doubtful and compares Old Norse skalm.[3] Cognate with Ancient Greek σκάλλω (skállō, “to stir up, hoe”) and Hittite iškalla- (“to slit, split”).[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,[2] who has “I have a sharp knife to gut the old man's purse”.[3]

Semantic evolution

It is a knife, especially one for slaughtering sacrificial animals, as in Cato, a hunting knife or weapon, as Livy's man girded with a knife, and a razor, as Plautus' old man at the barber's.[3] Columella uses it of the straight-edged part of a vine-dresser's pruning hook, and Grattius of the point of a spear;[3] Pliny the Elder uses it of the coulter of a plough.[4] Vitruvius has in cultrum collocāre “to set on edge”.[3] In Medieval Latin it is the coulter,[5] and English coulter comes from it through Old English.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a sharp knife and of razors.[3][2][7]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato of slaughtering victims.[3][7]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of a man girded with a knife.[3][7]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of the plough's coulter.[4][7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A knife, especially for slaughter or sacrifice; a hunting knife; a razor.[3][4][8][1]
  2. The straight edge of a pruning hook; the point of a spear; the coulter of a plough.[3][4][5]
  3. in cultrum collocāre, to set on edge.[3]

Word family

  • cultrārius
  • cultrātus
  • cultellus
  • English coulter

References

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