Etymologically
Log in

osculum

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 18 October 2026 at 21:49. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈoːs.kʊ.ɫũː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈɔs.ku.lum][1]

Forms

ōsculum n (genitive ōsculī); second declension[1] Plautus also has ausculum and the syncopated osclum.[2][3]

Etymology

It is a diminutive, from Latin ōs (“mouth”) + -culum, “little mouth”, as Varro already saw.[4][3][1] De Vaan reconstructs ōs as Proto-Italic *ōs- and Proto-Indo-European *h₃eh₁-os (“mouth”), cognate with Sanskrit आस् (ā́s, “mouth”) and Hittite aiš (“mouth”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus,[5][6] who uses it for a kiss: sat est ōsculī mihi.[4]

Semantic evolution

Ōsculum is a kiss, in phrases such as ōsculum ferre, dare, fīgere or imprimere and ōscula iungere, to exchange kisses.[4] In poetry and post-Augustan prose it is also the mouth or lips, especially as used in kissing (Virgil: the children hang on their father's lips), and a little or pretty mouth.[4][2] Döderlein calls ōsculum a friendly kiss, suāvium a tender one and bāsium an ardent one.[7]

Church Latin glosses it “kiss”.[8] In medieval Latin it was also a bridegroom's gift to his bride and the deed recording it.[9] In New Latin it is a small opening.[1]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: sat est ōsculī mihi.[4][6]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of children hanging on their father's lips.[4][6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A kiss.[4][2][1][8]
  2. The mouth, lips; a little or pretty mouth.[4][2][1]
  3. (Medieval Latin) A bridegroom's gift to his bride; the deed of such a gift.[9]
  4. (New Latin) A small orifice.[1]

Word family

  • ōsculō
  • ōsculor

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon 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 d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  9. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill