Etymologically
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digitulus

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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