Etymologically
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modiolus

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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]

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