operculum

Forms

operculum n (genitive operculī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin operiō (“to cover”) + -culum.^[2][1][3][4] De Vaan derives operiō from Proto-Italic *op-wer-i(e)- (“to cover up”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂uer-i(e)- (“to cover”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cato is the first author:^[5][6] in his book on farming he gives instructions to put a lid on a jar and seal it.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

The TLL finds it mostly in the writers on farming from Cato and Varro on, once in Cicero, and not in the poets.^[3] It meant a lid or cover:^[2][8] Cicero says the windpipe is covered as if by a lid,^[2][8] Livy describes chests whose lids were fastened with lead, Columella channels closed with covers, and Ulpian the covers of wells.^[2] A building contract preserved in an inscription uses it of a facing of fir boards.^[2] Jerome quotes the proverb invēnit patella operculum, “the pot has found its lid”.^[7][9]

In British Medieval Latin it was the lid of a tomb or coffin, as in Bede, and also the cover of a vessel or a well and the visor of a helmet.^[10] English took operculum in 1713 for a lid or for a lid-like structure in plants and animals.^[4]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of the lid of a jar.^[2][6]
• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of covers.^[2][8][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero compares the cover of the windpipe to a lid.^[2][6]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of the lids of chests.^[2][6]
• before 223 AD – Ulpian uses it of the covers of wells.^[2][6]
• c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome quotes the proverb of the pot and its lid.^[7][6]
• 1713 – English borrows it as operculum.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A lid, cap or cover.^[2][8][9]
2. An overlay or facing for a wall or panel.^[2]
3. (Medieval Latin) The lid of a tomb or coffin.^[10]

Word family

• operculō

Related words

• operiō
• operīmentum
• English operculum

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
10. ^ 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