olla

Forms

ōlla f (genitive ōllae); first declension^[1] The older spelling aula (rarely aulla) is regular in Plautus and is also found in Naevius and Cato.^[2][3] The spelling ōla appears in an inscription.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *auksla-, through the older Latin form aul(l)a, which is regular in Naevius, Plautus and Cato; ⟨olla⟩ is found after Cato.^[3][2] The diminutive auxilla (“small jar”) shows the lost /ks/.^[3][2] De Vaan compares Sanskrit उखा (ukhā́-, “boiler, pan”), Ancient Greek ἰπνός (ipnós, “furnace”) and Proto-Germanic *úχna- (“oven”), but doubts that they can all be traced to one preform;^[3] Latin and Germanic may share a substrate word.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records olla from Cato,^[4] who has grapes stored in pots among the skins of pressed grapes: uvae in olla in vinaceis conduntur.^[2] The older aula appears in Naevius and Plautus,^[3] whose Aulularia is named after a pot of money.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It is a pot or jar, especially for cooking,^[2][5] and also one for preserving grapes.^[2] Cicero speaks of filling a pot with denarii, and Juvenal of great pots steaming with porridge.^[5] In inscriptions it is a cinerary urn holding the ashes of the dead.^[2][5] It appears in proverbs: Catullus quotes the saying that the pot picks its own vegetables, ipsa olera olla legit, and in Petronius a pot shared with partners boils badly, olla male fervet.^[6][5] Church Latin has ollae carnium, the fleshpots.^[7] It lives on in olla, olla and ole.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 235–200 BC – Naevius has the older form aula.^[3][2][4]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus names his Aulularia after a pot of money.^[3][4]
• 234–149 BC – Cato, of pots for preserving grapes.^[2][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero, of a pot filled with denarii.^[5][4]
• before 66 AD – Petronius uses the proverb of the badly boiling pot.^[5][6][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A pot or jar, especially for cooking.^[2][5][1]
2. A jar for preserving grapes.^[2]
3. A cinerary urn.^[2][5]
4. (Ecclesiastical Latin) ollae carnium: the fleshpots.^[7]

Word family

• aulicoctus
• auxilla
• ollāris
• ōllārius
• ollicoquus
• ollicula
• ollula

Usage notes

Paulus' epitome of Festus says that the ancients called pots aulae because they did not double letters, and that entrails cooked in pots were called aulicocia.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson