Etymologically
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dentalis

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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.