mola

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈmɔ.ɫa]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈmɔː.la]^[1]

Forms

mola f (genitive molae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *molā, from Proto-Indo-European *molh₂éh₂, from Proto-Indo-European *melh₂- (“to grind”), related to molō “to grind”.^[1][2][3] The OLD and Lewis and Short compare Ancient Greek μύλη (múlē, “mill”).^[2][4] Isidore derived it from its roundness.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source for the mill is Naevius, whom he dates c. 235–200 BC.^[3] The OLD cites Cato for mills, and Plautus has molae among a slave's punishments.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

It meant a millstone, as in Ovid and Juvenal's molam versāre “to turn the millstone”, and in the plural a mill, driven by slaves, animals or water, as in Plautus and Cato.^[2][4][6] From Varro mola salsa meant the sacrificial meal of spelt and salt sprinkled on victims, which Festus explains.^[2][4] In Pliny the Elder it meant a false conception, a mole in the womb.^[2][7]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant a millstone or mill.^[8] In Medieval Latin the singular was used for a mill.^[9] It survives in Italian mola, French meule and Spanish muela.^[1] Late Latin molīna, from it, was borrowed into Old English mylen, whence English mill.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 235–200 BC – Naevius uses it.^[3]
• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of mills.^[2][3]
• 116–27 BC – Varro uses mola salsa.^[2][3]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of a mole in the womb.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A millstone; in the plural, a mill.^[2]
2. mola salsa, the sacrificial meal of spelt and salt.^[2]
3. A false conception, mole.^[2]

Word family

• molāris
• molārius
• molīle
• molō
• molūcrum

Related words

• immolō
• molīnus
• molitiō
• molitor
• English mill
• English molar

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. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
6. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
9. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
10. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com