papula

Forms

papula f (genitive papulae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.^[2] The OLD compares Lithuanian pāpas,^[3] and Lewis & Short connect it with a root meaning “to swell”, as in Ancient Greek πομφός (pomphós).^[4] Wiktionary derives it from Proto-Indo-European *pap- (“pock mark, nipple”),^[1] and Köbler refers it to Pokorny's root of swelling.^[5][6] The TLL doubts whether such similar words in other languages share an origin or arose by a natural tendency to form words alike, as English pap did, and thinks this can hardly be decided.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it first in Lucilius,^[5] and Virgil speaks of burning pustules (ardentes papulae) in the Georgics.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It always meant a pustule or pimple, in medical writers such as Celsus and Pliny the Elder as well as in poetry.^[3][4] Seneca used it in a proverb: those covered in sores watch for other people's pimples.^[4] The Vulgate has it in Leviticus.^[4] British Medieval Latin used it for a pimple, blister or pustule, and Old English glosses render it by wearte “wart”.^[7]

Wiktionary lists papilla “nipple” as derived from it.^[1] French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese have it as a learned borrowing.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius uses the word.^[5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil speaks of burning pustules in the Georgics.^[4][5]
• 14–37 AD – Celsus uses it in medicine.^[4][5]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca turns it into a proverb about other people's faults.^[4][5]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it in Leviticus.^[4][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A pustule, pimple.^[3][4]
2. (Medieval Latin) A blister.^[7][8]

Word family

• papilla
• papulo

Usage notes

Seneca's papulas observatis alienas obsiti plurimis ulceribus (“covered with many sores, you watch other people's pimples”) is compared by Lewis & Short with the mote and the beam.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
7. ^ 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
8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson