particula

Forms

particula f (genitive particulae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin pars (“part”) + -cula, a diminutive.^[1][2] De Vaan reports Schrijver's view that pars, from Proto-Italic *parti-, was formed on the stem of pariō (“to bring forth”) and first meant a lot or portion.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Varro.^[3][4] Köbler dates it from Cicero.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It is a small part, piece or section of anything: Cicero speaks of small portions of the sky and of the smallest particles.^[1][5] He also uses it of Anaxagoras' minute particles of matter.^[1] It is a morsel of food in Fronto, a small parcel of land in the land surveyors, and a degree of the ecliptic in Columella.^[1] Of speech it is a clause or section of a sentence, a subdivision, or a small point: Cicero does not want any detail of a conversation left out.^[1] Gellius uses it in grammar of a part of a word or a short word such as ⟨-ve⟩.^[1] Church Latin also uses it of a phrase and of a small host.^[6] In medieval Latin it is an item in a list.^[7]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it.^[3][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of small parts, of particles of matter and of clauses.^[1][5][4]
• 1st century AD – Columella of a degree of the ecliptic.^[1][4]
• c. 165 AD – Gellius of a grammatical particle.^[1][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small part, piece, bit.^[1][5][8][6]
2. A particle of matter, an atom.^[1]
3. A morsel of food; a parcel of land; in astronomy, a degree of the ecliptic.^[1]
4. A section of a sentence, clause; a subdivision; a small point, item.^[1][7]
5. In grammar, a part of a word or a short indeclinable word, a particle.^[1]
6. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A phrase; a small host.^[6]

Word family

• particulāris
• particulātim
• particulatio
• particulō

Related words

• pars
• partim

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org