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dentalis

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word dentalis

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
70–19 BC, Virgil
Ultimate origin
Latin dēns
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin dens
French dent
Italian dente
Latin dentalis
From the same root
Latin bidens ← dens
Latin dentatus ← dens

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [dɛnˈtaː.lɪs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [denˈtaː.lis][1]

Forms

dentālis (neuter dentāle); third-declension two-termination adjective[1] The neuter dentāle (genitive dentālis), mostly in the plural dentālia, is used as a noun.[2][3] Medieval Latin also has the form dentīlis.[4][5]

Etymology

It is from Latin dēns (“tooth”) + -ālis.[2][6][1] The base goes back to Proto-Italic *dent- and Proto-Indo-European *h₃d-nt- (“tooth”).[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word first appears as a noun: Virgil, in the Georgics (1.172), uses the neuter plural dentālia for the sole or share-beam of the plough.[8][3][2] Köbler dates Virgil to 70–19 BC.[5]

Semantic evolution

The plough sense continued in Columella's treatise on farming,[8][3] and Persius used the word by metonymy for the ploughshare itself.[3][8] The singular dentāle is not found before Servius and Isidore of Seville.[3]

As an adjective it belongs to later Latin: glossaries explain it as “having many teeth”, and the Medicina Plinii names a herb that some call dentālis, which the MLW identifies as henbane.[6][4] Wiktionary marks both its adjectival senses, “toothed” and “of the teeth”, as Late Latin.[1] Medieval writers used it of the teeth (Constantine the African names a tooth disease passio dentilis), of what is done with the teeth, and of toothed or serrated instruments; the noun kept naming parts of the plough or the plough itself, and as a masculine noun it named a sea fish, the dentex.[4] In British Latin it means “toothed”.[9] English borrowed dental in the 1590s, from French or from Medieval Latin.[10]

Timeline

  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses dentālia for the share-beam of the plough.[8][3][5]
  • 1st century AD – Columella uses it in the same sense.[8][3][5]
  • 34–62 AD – Persius uses it for the ploughshare.[3][8][5]
  • c. 400 AD – Servius has the singular dentāle in his commentary on the Georgics.[3][5]
  • c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville also uses the singular.[3][11][5]
  • 1590s – English borrows it as dental.[10]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. (Late Latin) Having teeth, toothed.[6][1][9]
  2. (Late Latin) Of the teeth, dental.[1][4]
  3. (Medieval Latin) Done with the teeth.[4]
  4. (Medieval Latin) Serrated, toothed (of an instrument).[4]
  5. herba dentālis: a plant, identified as henbane.[6][4]

Noun

  1. (neuter, chiefly plural dentālia) The sole or share-beam of a plough.[2][3][8]
  2. (neuter, by metonymy) A ploughshare;[3][8][4] (Medieval Latin) a plough.[3][8][4]
  3. (Medieval Latin, masculine) A sea fish, the dentex.[4][5]
  • dēns
  • dentārius
  • dentātus
  • denticulātus
  • denticulus
  • dentidūcum
  • dentifrangibulus
  • dentifricium
  • dentilegus
  • English dental

Usage notes

The OLD enters the plough word separately as dentāle, formed from dēns with the suffix -ālis,[2] while the TLL and the MLW treat it as the substantivized neuter of the adjective.[6][4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e 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 j k l m Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  9. ^ a b 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
  10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  11. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
Cite this entry

“Dentalis.” Etymologically, 24 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/dentalis. Accessed 24 Oct. 2026.

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