masculus

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈmas.kʊ.ɫʊs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈmas.ku.lus]^[1]

Forms

masculus (feminine mascula, neuter masculum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is a diminutive of mās “male” with the suffix -culus.^[2][1][3] Late texts have a form ⟨mascel⟩.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Plautus, whom he dates c. 250–184 BC, and Lewis and Short cite Plautus' bona fēmina et malus masculus “a good woman and a bad male”.^[5][3]

Semantic evolution

It meant male, masculine, as in Livy and Pliny, and as a noun a male person or animal, and Lewis and Short note it is not in Cicero or Caesar.^[2][3][6] It meant manly, virile, as in Varro and Horace.^[2] Pliny applies it to the larger or coarser kinds of plants and natural products, and Virgil has mascula tūra “male frankincense”.^[2][6] In Vitruvius' engineering it was the male part of a joint.^[2]

British Medieval Latin used it of male offspring.^[7] It survives in Spanish and Portuguese macho and Italian maschio, and through Old French masle it gave English male in the late 14th century.^[1][8]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a male.^[3][5]
• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of the manly.^[2][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil has mascula tūra.^[6][5]
• late 14th century – English male is recorded.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Male, masculine.^[2]
2. Manly, virile.^[2]
3. Of plants, of the larger or coarser kind.^[2]
4. (engineering) Male.^[2]

Noun

1. A male.^[2]

Word family

• masculescō
• masculētum
• masculīnus
• masculofemina
• semimasculus
• commasculō
• ēmasculō

Related words

• mās
• English male
• English masculine

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com