paulus

Forms

paulus (feminine paula, neuter paulum, adverb paulō); first/second-declension adjective^[1] Also spelled paullus, which the grammarian Scaurus defended; another grammarian required paul-, and poll- occurs in a 3rd-century inscription.^[2][3]

Etymology

Its formation is disputed.^[4][2] Walde and Hofmann derived it, like pauxillus (“little”), from the stem of paucus (“few”), with a preform Proto-Italic *pauk-slo- like the one behind āla (“wing”) beside axilla;^[4] de Vaan rejects this, because the suffix ⟨-slo-⟩ otherwise forms only instrument nouns from consonant stems.^[4] He follows Thurneysen, for whom it is from Latin parvus (“small”), a diminutive *pau-re-lo- of its older form *pauro-.^[4]

Either way it goes back to Proto-Indo-European *peh₂u- (“few, little”),^[4][1] the root of Ancient Greek παῦρος (paûros, “few, little”), which the OLD compares.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first author is Ennius,^[5] de Vaan's Terence.^[4] In Terence's Andria one is driven this way or that paulo momento, “by a slight impulse”, with the sense little, small.^[6]

Semantic evolution

As an adjective it is rare, ante-classical and poetic;^[6][2] the TLL finds the adjective in only a few places, the neuter noun and the adverbs paulum and paulō from Plautus on, and the noun seldom after the 1st century AD.^[2] The neuter with aliquid and similar words meant “a little something, a trifle”, as in Terence's paulum quiddam and Catullus' paulum quid lubet allocutionis “any little word of comfort”.^[3]

Augustine explains the apostle's name from paulum, which he says means nothing other than “little”.^[2]

Timeline

• 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it (Köbler's first author).^[5]
• 190–159 BC – Terence uses the adjective and paulum quiddam.^[6][3][4][5]
• 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus asks for paulum quid of comfort.^[3][5]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine explains the name Paul from paulum.^[2][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Little, small (in size or quantity).^[3][6]
2. (neuter, with aliquid and similar) A little something, a trifle.^[3]

Related words

• paucus
• parvus
• pauxillus
• paulātim
• paulisper

Usage notes

The neuter paulum and the ablative paulō are mostly used as adverbs; in Cicero paulo is far commoner (317 examples to 57).^[2] Paulus (also Paullus) was a surname of the gens Aemilia,^[3][6] and as the name of the apostle it gave English Paul.^[7][8]

References

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