Etymologically
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molaris

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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
  • 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