orbiculus

Forms

orbiculus m (genitive orbiculī); second declension^[1][2] Cato spells it with urb-, and a feminine orbicula and a neuter orbiculum are also found.^[3]

Etymology

It is from Latin orbis (“circle, wheel, disc”) + -culus, a diminutive.^[1][2][3] De Vaan reconstructs the noun as Proto-Italic *orfi- (“wheel”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃orbʰ-i- (“turning thing”), but its etymology is much disputed.^[4] He compares Umbrian urfeta, an object a priest holds in his hands.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Cato (234–149 BC) on,^[4][5] who uses it in his work on agriculture of the pulleys of a press: “with eight pulleys above and six below you will haul faster”.^[1]

Semantic evolution

Varro uses it of the small wheels of a threshing sledge,^[1] Vitruvius of a revolving drum and of the nave of a wheel,^[1][2] Columella of a ring or coil and of a disc,^[1] and Pliny the Elder of a root cut into little round slices.^[1][2] Apuleius has it of a ring.^[1] Köbler also gives the sense “eyeball”.^[5]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of the pulleys of a press.^[1][3][5]
• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of the small wheels of a threshing sledge.^[1][5]
• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of a revolving drum and of the nave of a wheel.^[1][2][5]
• 1st century AD – Columella uses it of a ring and of a disc.^[1][5]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of round slices of a root.^[1][2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A circular figure, a ring or coil.^[1]
2. A small round object, a disc; a round slice.^[1][2]
3. A small wheel or roller; a sheave, pulley.^[1][2]
4. A revolving drum.^[1]
5. The nave of a wheel.^[2]
6. The eyeball.^[5]

Word family

• orbiculāris
• orbiculātim
• orbiculātus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c 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 h Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de