fistula

Forms

fistula f (genitive fistulae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.^[2][3][4] De Vaan finds no certain etymology; the best comparison is with festūca (“stalk, straw”) and perhaps ferula (“giant fennel”), if from *fesula, since a pipe and a stalk look alike, and the variation between ⟨fest-⟩ and ⟨fist-⟩ occurs within festūca itself.^[2][1] Lewis & Short derived it from findō (“to split”), and Köbler mentions findō or fiscus as possibilities.^[5][6] The TLL suggests that it may be named from the sound of the shepherd's pipe, comparing Slavic words for whistling.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Cato,^[2] who uses it of an iron pipe, of a mortar for crushing wheat, and of an ulcer.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It is a pipe or tube, especially a water pipe, usually of lead, as in Cicero and Frontinus.^[3][5] In medicine it is a tube for applying drugs, a catheter, and a narrow suppurating ulcer, a fistula, already in Cato.^[3][1] It is also a shepherd's pipe, the pan pipe, as in Lucretius, and in Cicero a whistle of disapproval in the theatre.^[3] Pliny the Elder uses it of a metal punch, the hollow stalk of a plant and the rolled quill of cassia bark, and Mela of a natural pore or tube in the body.^[3] Church Latin glosses it pipe, whistle, flute, reed.^[7] English fistula (late 14th century) is from it, and so, through Old French, is fester.^[8]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato of a pipe, a mortar and an ulcer.^[3][6]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius of a shepherd's pipe.^[3][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of a water pipe and of a whistle of disapproval.^[3][5][6]
• 14–37 AD – Celsus of a medical tube.^[3][6]
• late 14th century – English fistula is borrowed from it.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A pipe, tube; especially a water pipe.^[3][5][1]
2. (medicine) A tube for applying drugs, a catheter.^[3][1]
3. A metal punch.^[3][1]
4. A shepherd's pipe, the pan pipe; a whistle of disapproval.^[3][5][7][1]
5. A mortar or hand mill for crushing grain.^[3][1]
6. A natural tube or pore; the hollow stalk of a plant; a reed pen; a quill of cassia bark.^[3][1]
7. (medicine) A narrow suppurating ulcer, a fistula.^[3][1]

Word family

• fistella
• fistulāris
• fistulārius
• fistulātus
• fistulōsus
• fistulātim
• fistulātor
• fistulātōrius
• fistulēscō
• fistulō

Related words

• festūca
• English fistula
• English fester

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com