opusculum

Forms

opusculum n (genitive opusculī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin opus (“work”) + -culum, a diminutive.^[2][1][3] De Vaan traces opus to Proto-Italic *opes- (“work”) and Proto-Indo-European *h3ep-os (“work”), and compares Sanskrit अपस् (ápas-, “work, action”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it first in Cicero,^[5] who calls Myrmecides a maker of tiny works, minutorum opusculorum fabricator, and writes accipies igitur hoc parvum opusculum, “so you will receive this little work”, written by lamplight in the shorter nights.^[6]

Semantic evolution

It means a small work, especially a minor literary work, a trifle.^[2] The TLL finds it only in a few places in Cicero, Horace, Statius and Quintilian, and more often from Pliny the Younger's letters on.^[3] Horace speaks of the opuscula of Cassius of Parma.^[6][3] Writers often used it modestly of their own books, and Jerome notes that both Hebrew and Latin call writings opuscula.^[3] In Medieval Latin it could name any literary work, even a major one,^[7] and British writers such as Gildas and Bede used it of their own substantial works out of modesty.^[8] In New Latin it also means an article or an entry.^[1]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of tiny works of art and of his own little book.^[6][5]
• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of the works of Cassius of Parma.^[6][3][5]
• c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome comments on its use for writings.^[3][5]
• Medieval Latin – Bede uses it modestly of his own works.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small work; especially a minor literary work, a trifle.^[2][6]
2. Used modestly by authors of their own work.^[3][8]
3. (Medieval Latin) Any literary work, even a major one.^[7]
4. (New Latin) An article, an entry.^[1]

Related words

• opera
• opella

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b c 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