meliusculus

Forms

meliusculus (feminine meliuscula, neuter meliusculum, adverb meliuscule); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin melius (“better”) + -culus, a diminutive formed on a comparative,^[2][3][4] like minusculus.^[3] For melior (“better”) de Vaan reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *mel-iōs, but he calls this etymology weak, since Ancient Greek μάλα (mála, “very, quite”), with which it is compared, shows no trace of the vowel ⟨e⟩, and words for “good” are often renewed.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler and de Vaan date it from Plautus.^[6][5] In the Curculio a speaker says meliusculum est monere, “it is rather better to give a warning”.^[7][3]

Semantic evolution

It means “somewhat better” in the senses of melior.^[2] It is used of things, as in Varro's somewhat better hope, Seneca's Graces with a somewhat finer face and Columella's bees of a better colour,^[3][7] and of living beings, as in Petronius' home-bred bees made better by the Greeks.^[3][7] Of a sick person it means “somewhat better in health”: in Terence's Hecyra the answer to the question whether Philumena is safe is meliusculast, “she is a little better”, and Celsus uses it of a patient who begins to recover.^[3][7][8] British medieval glossaries record it as “somewhat better”.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus writes meliusculum est.^[7][6]
• 190–159 BC – Terence uses it of a sick woman getting better.^[3][6]
• 116–27 BC – Varro writes of a somewhat better hope.^[3][6]
• 14–37 AD – Celsus uses it of a recovering patient.^[3][6]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca describes the Graces as somewhat finer of face.^[3][6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Somewhat better.^[2][7][8]
2. (of a sick person) Somewhat better in health, recovering.^[7][8]

Related words

• melior
• melius
• minusculus

Usage notes

The grammarian Priscian cites it as an example of the comparatives that take a diminutive, and Donatus gives the adverb meliuscule “somewhat better”, formed on the comparative melius.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c 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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ 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
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 c d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
9. ^ 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