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digitulus

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word digitulus

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Latin digitus
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin digitus
English digit
Latin digitulus
From the same root
Latin digitalis ← digitus

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [dɪˈɡɪ.tʊ.ɫʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [diˈd͡ʒiː.tu.lus][1]

Forms

digitulus m (genitive digitulī); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin digitus (“finger, toe”) + -ulus, a diminutive.[2][3][1] De Vaan notes that linking digitus with dīcō2 is attractive in meaning, but it would need a voicing change otherwise unknown in Latin.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus on,[4][5] meaning a small or tender finger; in the Poenulus it is used proverbially of holding something with the fingertips.[3][6]

Semantic evolution

Terence and Varro use it too, and Varro speaks of a dimple pressed in the chin by the little finger of Love.[6][3] A fragment of Cicero has an old woman's neck squeezed with two little fingers.[6] It could also mean a small toe,[2] and Apuleius uses it of a parrot's toes.[2][6]

Later writers keep the word: Jerome speaks of incense held between two little fingers.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it for a little finger, also proverbially.[3][6][5]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence uses it.[6][5]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro writes of the little finger of Love.[3][5]
  • c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it for a parrot's toes.[2][5]
  • c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome uses it of holding incense.[3][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A small or tender finger.[2][6]
  2. A small toe; a bird's toe.[2][6]
  3. (proverbial) digitulīs prīmōribus, with the fingertips, barely.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
Cite this entry

“Digitulus.” Etymologically, 25 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/digitulus. Accessed 25 Oct. 2026.

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