mulctra

Forms

mulctra f (genitive mulctrae); first declension^[1] The manuscripts also spell it with ⟨-ltr-⟩ or ⟨-lchr-⟩.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin mulgeō (“to milk”), a variant of the neuter mulctrum.^[3][1][2] De Vaan notes that it was not made from the present stem of the verb but seems to continue an older formation with the suffix ⟨-tro-⟩ on the root itself.^[4]

The verb goes back to Proto-Italic *molgeje- and Proto-Indo-European *h₂mlǵ-eie- (“to milk”), and is cognate with Ancient Greek ἀμέλγω (amélgō, “to milk”), Old High German melchan, Old English melcan and Lithuanian mélžu.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Virgil's Eclogues, of an animal that comes twice a day to the milking pail (bis venit ad mulctram).^[5][4][6]

Semantic evolution

Columella speaks of cheese fresh from the pail and also uses the word for the milk in the pail itself.^[5][1] In British medieval glossaries it is a milking pail, rendered in Old English as celdre or melcingfata.^[7]

Timeline

• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it for a milking pail.^[5][4][6]
• 1st century AD – Columella uses it for the pail and for the milk in it.^[5][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A milking-pail.^[3][5][1]
2. (metonymic) The milk in the pail.^[5][1]

Word family

• mulctrāle
• mulctrārium

Related words

• immulgeō
• mulctus
• mulgeō

Usage notes

The neuter mulctrum has the same meaning.^[3][5][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ 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