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nutricula

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word nutricula

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
81–43 BC, Cicero
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European *sneu-tr-ih₂-
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin nutrix
Latin nutricula

Forms

nūtrīcula f (genitive nūtrīculae); first declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin nūtrīx (“nurse”) + -ula,[2][3] a diminutive.[3][4] The noun nūtrīx goes back to Proto-Italic *(s)noutrī and Proto-Indo-European *sneu-tr-ih₂- (“female nurser”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest example is a doubtful fragment of Lucilius, of a nurse showing something to infants.[2] Its first certain uses are in Cicero,[6] who uses it figuratively, calling a certain Gellius the nurse of all seditious men.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

It meant a child's nurse, especially a wet nurse:[2] Horace asks what more a nurse could wish for her dear charge,[2][3] Quintilian speaks of nurses' tales,[2][3] and Suetonius uses it in his lives of Augustus and Nero.[2][4]

Figuratively it was whatever feeds or fosters something: Cicero has nurses of estates,[3][4] Juvenal calls Africa the nurse of advocates,[2][4] and Apuleius calls the reed the nurse of sweet music.[2]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it figuratively of a fosterer of sedition.[2][6]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of a child's nurse.[2][6]
  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian mentions nurses' tales.[2][6]
  • c. 67–c. 127 AD – Juvenal calls Africa the nurse of advocates.[2][6]
  • c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius calls the reed the nurse of music.[2][6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A child's nurse, especially a wet nurse.[2][3]
  2. (figurative) One who or that which nourishes or fosters something.[2][4]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Nutricula.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/nutricula. Accessed 23 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·