molaris

Forms

molāris (neuter molāre); third-declension two-termination adjective; as a noun m (genitive molāris).^[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin mola (“millstone”) + -āris;^[1][2][3] the noun is the adjective used alone, with ⟨lapis⟩ “stone” or ⟨dēns⟩ “tooth” understood.^[1] mola belongs with molō (“to grind in a mill”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Indo-European *melh₂- (“to crush, grind”).^[4] Cognate with Ancient Greek μύλη (múlē, “handmill, mill”), Lithuanian málti (“to grind”) and Old Irish meilid (“grinds”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first use the OLD records is the noun in Virgil, of huge millstone-sized rocks used as missiles (vastisque molaribus instat).^[1][5]

Semantic evolution

As a noun it meant a boulder as big as a millstone, a poetic word in Virgil, Ovid, Statius and Tacitus,^[1][5][6] and, with ⟨dēns⟩ understood, a grinding tooth: Columella speaks of the upper molars of horses and Juvenal of molars.^[1][5] As an adjective it meant belonging to a mill, and lapis molāris was the volcanic stone of which millstones were made, which the poem Aetna and Pliny the Elder discuss.^[1][6] Seneca uses molāria saxa for stones as large as millstones.^[1][6]

The Vulgate has lapis molāris for a millstone and dēns molāris for a molar tooth.^[5][6] In medieval British sources it is used for millstones and whetstones bought for mills, for molar teeth, and in heraldry for the cross moline (crux molāris).^[7] English took over molar from molāris dēns.^[8]

Timeline

• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses the noun for great stones hurled in battle.^[1][9]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses the adjective for rocks the size of millstones.^[1][9]
• 37–68 AD – The poem Aetna uses lapis molāris for millstone rock.^[1][9]
• 1st century AD – Columella uses the noun for the molar teeth of horses.^[1][9]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate has lapis molāris and dēns molāris.^[5][6][9]
• mid-14th century – English takes it over as molar.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or belonging to a mill.^[1][5]
2. lapis molāris, saxum molāre: a volcanic stone used for millstones; a millstone.^[1][6]
3. As large as a millstone.^[1][6]
4. Grinding;^[5][6] dēns molāris, a molar tooth.^[5][6]

Noun

1. A rock the size of a millstone, used as a missile; a boulder.^[1][5]
2. A grinding tooth, a molar.^[1][5]
3. A millstone.^[5][6][7]

Word family

• supermolaris

Related words

• English molar

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b 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
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de