modiolus

Forms

modiolus m (genitive modiolī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin modius (“a dry measure”) + -olus, a diminutive.^[2][1][3] Modius is formed on modus (“measure”),^[2] which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *medo- (“measure, judgement”) and Proto-Indo-European *med-o- (“measure”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cato,^[5] who uses it in his instructions for an olive mill, for the sockets to be made in the rollers: modiolōs in orbīs oleāgineōs … facitō.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

Lewis and Short take the literal sense to be a small measure, from which the other uses came.^[3] Vitruvius uses it of the buckets fixed round a water wheel, of the cylinders of a force pump, and of the hub of a wheel, and Pliny the Elder of the hub too.^[2][3][6] Celsus uses it of a surgical instrument for cutting out bone, a trepan,^[2] and the jurist Scaevola of a drinking cup.^[2][6]

In medieval Latin it was a measure of capacity, a cup, and a measure of land.^[7] British writers used it for the hub of a wheel, and Ælfric glosses it with Old English nawepe.^[8]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of the sockets of the rollers in an olive mill.^[2][5]
• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of buckets on a water wheel and of a wheel's hub.^[2][5]
• 14–37 AD – Celsus uses it of a trepan.^[2][5]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of the hub of a wheel.^[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A bucket on a water wheel; a kind of drinking cup.^[2][3]
2. A socket or cylinder for the moving parts of a machine.^[2]
3. The hub or nave of a wheel.^[2][3]
4. A surgical instrument for cutting out bone, a trepan.^[2]
5. (Medieval Latin) A measure of capacity; a measure of land.^[7]

Related words

• modius

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ 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