fratellus

Forms

frātellus m (genitive frātellī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin frāter (“brother”) + -lus (“diminutive suffix”).^[2][1][3] Conte gives it as the source of Italian fratello (“brother”), in spoken Latin.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The grammarian Scaurus, whom Köbler dates to the first half of the 2nd century AD, has it for a little brother.^[5][6][3]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it is a rare diminutive, “little brother”.^[2][5] Wiktionary glosses it simply as “brother”, the sense of its descendants Italian fratello, Corsican fratellu and Venetian fradelo.^[1][4]

Timeline

• 1st half of the 2nd century AD – The grammarian Scaurus uses it for a little brother.^[5][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A little brother.^[2][5][3]
2. A brother.^[1]

Related words

• frāter

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ Jeanneau, Gérard; Woitrain, Jean-Paul; Hassid, Jean-Claude (2017), Dictionnaire latin-français, online ed., prima-elementa.fr