Etymologically
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molo

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈmɔ.ɫoː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈmɔː.lo][1]

Forms

molō (present infinitive molere, perfect active moluī, supine molitum); third conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *melō (“to grind”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *melh₂- (“to crush, grind”), with ⟨o⟩ from rounding before a velar /l/.[2][1] Cognate with Umbrian kumaltu (“let him grind”), Old Irish meilid (“grinds”), Welsh malu (“to grind”), Hittite malla- (“to grind”), Ancient Greek μύλη (múlē, “mill”), Lithuanian málti (“to grind”), Old Church Slavonic мл҄ѣти (mlěti, “to grind”) and Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌻𐌰𐌽 (malan, “to grind”).[2][3][1] It is related to mola “millstone”.[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan's first attestation is Plautus, whom Köbler dates c. 250–184 BC.[2][5] Terence uses it of grinding in the mill.[6][7]

Semantic evolution

It meant to grind in a mill, as in Terence, with grinding at the mill a slave's punishment, and in Pliny the Elder to grind barley into fine flour.[4][6][7] Lucilius and Petronius used it obscenely of the male act.[4][7]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant to grind, as in the Vulgate's tolle molam et mole farīnam “take the millstone and grind flour”; the Itala also has a first-conjugation molāre.[8][6][7] It survives in Spanish moler, Portuguese moer and Old French moudre.[1] Its derivative molīna “mill” gave Old English mylen, whence English mill.[9]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.[2][5]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence uses it of grinding in the mill.[6][5]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of grinding barley.[6][5]
  • 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it of grinding flour.[6][5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To grind in a mill.[4]
  2. (obscene) Of the male sexual act.[4]

Word family

  • commolō
  • ēmolō
  • molitor
  • moletrīna
  • molīnus
  • molitum
  • molitus
  • molucrum
  • permolō

Usage notes

Molō or Molōn was also the name of Apollonius of Rhodes, a teacher of rhetoric of Cicero.[4][6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  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 d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  9. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com