Etymologically
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malleolus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [malˈle.ɔ.ɫʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [malˈlɛː.o.lus][1]

Forms

malleolus m (genitive malleolī); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin malleus (“hammer, mallet”) + -olus, a diminutive.[2][1] malleus goes back to Proto-Italic *molalo- (“hammer”) and Proto-Indo-European *molH-lo- (“crushing instrument”), probably from the root for “to grind”; de Vaan, following Schrijver, explains it as an adjective in ⟨-eus⟩ built on such a form.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Sisenna,[3] whose history describes fire darts and burning bundles of brushwood thrown over a rampart.[2]

Semantic evolution

Cicero uses it for a hammer-shaped cutting of a tree or vine for planting, the mallet-shoot,[2][4] a sense Columella and Pliny the Elder keep,[4] and also for incendiary missiles, as does Livy.[4][5] The literal small hammer or mallet is found in Celsus[2][4] and in the Vulgate.[6]

In medieval Latin it meant a newly planted vineyard, with many spellings such as maleolus and malheolus.[7] English borrowed it in the 1690s for the bony knob on either side of the ankle, an anatomical use said to go back to Andreas Vesalius.[8]

Timeline

  • 120–67 BC – Sisenna mentions fire darts.[2][9]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it for cuttings for planting and for fire darts.[2][4][9]
  • 14–37 AD – Celsus uses it of a small mallet.[2][9]
  • 1st century AD – Columella uses it of mallet-shoots.[4][9]
  • 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it of a hammer.[6][9]
  • 1690s – Borrowed into English for the bone of the ankle.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A small hammer or mallet.[2][6]
  2. A hammer-shaped cutting of a tree or vine for planting, a mallet-shoot.[2][4]
  3. An incendiary missile, a fire dart.[2][4]
  4. (Medieval Latin) A newly planted vineyard.[7]

Word family

  • commalliolō
  • malleolāris
  • English malleolus

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  5. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  9. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de