facula

Forms

facula f (genitive faculae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is a diminutive formed from Latin fax + -ula, “a little torch”.^[2][1][3] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of the base, which is found from Plautus on.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus on.^[4] In the Persa it is used figuratively: Fortune is said to want, in vain, to light a little torch for someone.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In the literal sense it meant a small torch or a splinter of wood burnt as one, in Cato's book on farming, in Varro and in Propertius.^[5] The Vulgate has it in the Apocalypse (8:10), of a star burning like a torch.^[5]

Medieval Latin kept the torch, also in liturgical use, and applied the word to a star or a shining appearance in the sky.^[6] British sources use it for a firebrand, figuratively, and for a sparkle,^[7] and Köbler records a medieval sense “burnt tartar”.^[8] The Neo-Latin emblem writer Alciato says that Love has neither little torches nor a bow: “Amor nec faculas, nec quae cornua flectat habet”.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it figuratively of a little torch lit by Fortune.^[5][8]
• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of splinters burnt as torches.^[5][8]
• 116–27 BC – Varro mentions it in De lingua Latina.^[5][8]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it of a star burning like a torch.^[5][8]
• 10th century – An English gloss renders it by Old English words for a torch.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small torch; a splinter of wood burnt as a torch.^[2][5][10]
2. (figurative) A gleam, a faint light (of good fortune).^[5]
3. (Medieval Latin) A star or shining appearance in the sky.^[6]
4. (Medieval Latin) A firebrand; a sparkle.^[7]

Related words

• fax

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ 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 g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b c 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
8. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
9. ^ Ramminger, Johann, Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700, www.neulatein.de
10. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson