infundibulum

Forms

īnfundibulum n (genitive īnfundibulī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin infundō (“to pour in”) + -bulum.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cato lists it, as infidibulum, among the equipment of a farm.^[2][3][4]

Semantic evolution

The word named a funnel for pouring liquids, and Vitruvius uses it for the hopper that feeds grain to a mill.^[2][5] Spellings varied a great deal: infidibulum in Cato, infudibulum in Vitruvius and Columella, infurnibulum in a manuscript of Pliny.^[3][2] A grammatical text notes that it is neuter in Latin, while the Greek word, Ancient Greek χώνη (khṓnē), is feminine.^[3]

New Latin applied it to funnel-shaped organs of the body, the use that English took over in 1799.^[6]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato mentions funnels in his inventories of farm equipment.^[2][3][4]
• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius describes the hopper of a mill.^[2][5][4]
• 1st century AD – Columella uses it.^[5][4]
• 1799 – English borrows it from New Latin for a funnel-shaped organ.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A funnel for pouring liquids.^[2][5][7]
2. The hopper of a mill.^[2][5]

Related words

• English infundibulum

Usage notes

Older spellings include infidibulum, regular in Cato, and infudibulum.^[2][5][3]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn