Etymologically
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particula

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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

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