Etymologically
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masculus

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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

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