linteolum

Forms

linteolum n (genitive linteolī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin linteum + -olum, a diminutive of the word for a piece of linen cloth.^[2][3][1] De Vaan lists it among the words that go back to līnum (“flax, linen”), with the noun for linen cloth found from Plautus on.^[4]

He notes that this noun points to an unattested second word for linen beside the one in līnum, and that this variation, together with Ancient Greek λίνον (línon, “linen”) and the Balto-Slavic words for flax, makes it impossible to reconstruct a single Indo-European form.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus (c. 250–184 BC) has it in the Epidicus, among the fanciful names that women invent for clothes every year (linteolum caesicium).^[3][5][6]

Semantic evolution

From Celsus on it is used above all by medical writers, for a small piece or strip of linen used in treatment;^[3][2] Pliny the Elder has rose leaves pounded in such a cloth.^[5] Tertullian uses it of the small linen cloths some women wore on their heads, and Jerome of a kerchief for wiping off sweat.^[3] Prudentius applies it to a lamp-wick.^[5][3]

In Medieval Latin it named a burial shroud, an altar cloth, a bed sheet and linen in general.^[7] The diminutive force was lost in the Romance languages, which continue it as Italian lenzuolo, French linceul and Spanish lenzuelo.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus names a garment linteolum caesicium.^[3][6]
• 14–37 AD – Celsus begins its use in medical writing.^[3][6]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder has rose leaves pounded in a linen cloth.^[5][6]
• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it of women's linen head-cloths.^[3][6]
• 348/49–c. 413 AD – Prudentius uses it for a lamp-wick.^[5][3][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small piece or strip of linen, especially as used in medicine; a linen kerchief or garment.^[2][5][8][3]
2. A lamp-wick.^[5][3]
3. (Medieval Latin) A shroud; an altar cloth; a bed sheet; linen.^[7]

Usage notes

Manuscripts also spell it lenti- or lente-, and a masculine linteolus occurs.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b 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 e f g h i j k l m 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson