figulus

Forms

figulus m (genitive figulī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *figelos, a noun formed from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeyǵʰ- (“to knead, form”) with the suffix *-elos;^[1] Wiktionary bases this on the archaic spelling ⟨ficolos⟩ found on an inscription.^[1] De Vaan, writing before that inscription was known, reconstructed *fiχlo- (“who forms”) and *dhigh-lo-, because the /g/ of the word points to a form in which the root consonant stood before /l/;^[2][1] Wiktionary thinks this must now be given up.^[2][1] The OLD analyses it within Latin as the root of fingō (“to shape, mould”) with the suffix -ulus.^[3] The same root gives Oscan feíhúss (“walls”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Naevius wrote a comedy titled Figulus, “The Potter”.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

Varro mentions the jars that potters make, dōlia … quae figulī faciunt,^[4][6] and Vitruvius and Seneca the potter's wheel.^[4] Pliny the Elder credits the potter Butades of Sicyon with first moulding likenesses in clay, and Juvenal uses it of the builders of the brick walls of Babylon.^[4][6] The Vulgate has the potter's vessel, vās figulī.^[6] The Appendix Probi censures the spoken form figel (“figulus non figel”),^[7] which also appears on an inscription.^[4] Medieval Latin used it of a potter, a glassmaker and a maker or creator,^[8] and British writers also of God as the potter of mankind.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 235–200 BC – Naevius names a comedy Figulus.^[4][5]
• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of potters who make jars.^[4][5]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder names Butades of Sicyon as the first potter to model likenesses.^[4][5]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate speaks of the potter's vessel.^[6][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A potter, a maker of earthenware.^[3][6][10]
2. (Medieval Latin) A glassmaker; a maker, creator.^[8][9]

Word family

• figlīnus
• figulāris
• figulātus
• figulo

Related words

• fingō
• fictor
• figūra

Usage notes

Figulus was also a Roman cognomen, borne by Publius Nigidius Figulus, a learned contemporary of Cicero, and by men of the gens Marcia.^[3][6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Appendix Probi, a late antique list of correct and censured Latin word forms ("calida non calda"); ed. H. Keil, Grammatici Latini IV, Leipzig 1864, 197–199.
8. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
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. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson