modulus

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈmɔ.dʊ.ɫʊs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈmɔː.du.lus]^[1]

Forms

modulus m (genitive modulī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is a diminutive of modus “measure” with the suffix -ulus.^[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citations are from Varro, of a unit of measure.^[2] Köbler dates Varro 116–27 BC.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It meant a small measure, a unit of measurement, in architecture a module, and figuratively, as Horace's mētīrī sē suō modulō ac pede “to measure oneself by one's own measure and foot”.^[2][5] Lewis and Short note it is not in Cicero or Caesar.^[6] In Pliny and Gellius it meant a unit of rhythm, the measure of a syllable, and rhythm in speech, and in Vitruvius a musical interval and a sequence of notes, a tune.^[2] In Ulpian's law it was a pipe of fixed bore controlling the flow of water, and in Apuleius prō modulō meant to the best of one's ability.^[2]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant melody, rhythm, measure.^[7] Through Vulgar Latin *modellus it gave Italian modello, the source of English model in the 1570s, and English module came from French module or directly from Latin in the 1580s.^[8][1]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of a unit of measure.^[2][4]
• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of musical intervals.^[2][4]
• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it figuratively.^[5][4]
• 1570s – English model is recorded, through Italian.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A measure, standard, (architecture) a module.^[2]
2. A unit of rhythm; rhythm.^[2]
3. (music) An interval; a tune.^[2]
4. A water pipe of fixed bore.^[2]
5. prō modulō, to the best of one's ability.^[2]

Word family

• modulātē
• modulātiō
• modulātor
• modulātus
• modulor

Related words

• modus
• English model
• English module
• English mold

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 l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com