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mateola

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word mateola

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Derivation
First attested
234–149 BC, Cato
Ultimate origin
Latin *matea

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [maˈte.ɔ.ɫa][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [maˈtɛː.o.la][1]

Forms

mateola f (genitive mateolae); first declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin *matea (“hoe”), an unattested noun, with the diminutive suffix -ola.[2][1] De Vaan derives the noun from Proto-Italic *matejā- and Proto-Indo-European *mot- (“club, hoe”), perhaps a form of *met- (“to measure; to reap”), the root of metō (“to reap”); since the related words name a tool for working the land in every language, the verb would already have had that sense in Proto-Indo-European.[2]

Cognate with Old High German medela (“plough”).[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It occurs only in Cato (234–149 BC), who tells farmers to drive a cutting into the ground with a hammer or a mateola if it does not go down far enough.[2][4][5][6] Pliny the Elder repeats the passage.[4][5]

Semantic evolution

The exact tool is uncertain: the OLD takes it for a maul or beetle, a heavy wooden hammer, the TLL only for an agricultural implement.[3][4][1] Cato's manuscripts also have the spelling matiola.[4][3]

Timeline

  • 234–149 BC – Cato: a cutting driven in with a mateola.[4][6]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder quotes Cato's instruction.[4][6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A mallet or beetle (heavy wooden hammer) for driving in cuttings; perhaps some other farm tool.[3][5][4][1]

Usage notes

An unrelated matteola (also spelled mateola), a diminutive of mattea “a dainty dish”, appears in Arnobius.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Mateola.” Etymologically, 23 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/mateola. Accessed 23 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·