Etymologically
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pellicula

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [pɛlˈlɪ.kʊ.ɫa][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [pelˈliː.ku.la][1]

Forms

pellicula f (genitive pelliculae); first declension[1]

Etymology

It is a diminutive, from Latin pellis (“skin, hide”) + -cula.[2][3][1][4] That noun goes back to Proto-Italic *pelni- and Proto-Indo-European *pel-ni- (“skin, hide”); its cognates include Lithuanian plėnė̃ (“membrane”), Old High German fel, Old English fell and Old Norse fjall (“hide”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and the OLD first record it in Lucilius,[4][2] of the skin of a living creature.[2]

Semantic evolution

It meant both the skin of a living body and a skin stripped from an animal: Cicero has couches spread with kidskins, Juvenal calls the Golden Fleece a stolen pellicula, and Celsus and Pliny the Elder use it of skin as a material for dressings and amulets.[2][3] Celsus also uses it of the skin of fruit.[2]

Several sayings used it for a person's own self: Horace has pelliculam cūrāre, to look after one's own comfort;[2][3] Martial tells a cobbler to keep within his own skin, that is, to stay in his own station;[2][3] Persius speaks of keeping one's old skin, alluding to the fable of the ass in the lion's skin.[2][3] Varro reports that rustics in the Atellan farces called a prostitute pellicula,[2][3] a use the TLL compares with Spanish pelleja, which also has that meaning.[5]

British medieval writers used it for a membrane in anatomy and for the skin of grapes.[6] English pellicle comes from the medieval word,[7] and in New Latin it names a film.[1]

Timeline

  • c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius uses it of the skin of a living creature.[2][8]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro reports it as rustic slang for a prostitute.[2][8]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of kidskins spread on couches.[2][8]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace has the phrase pelliculam cūrāre.[2][8]
  • 14–37 AD – Celsus uses it of the skin of fruit.[2][8]
  • c. 1400 – English borrows the medieval word as pellicle.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The skin of a living creature;[2][3] the skin of a fruit.[2]
  2. A skin stripped from an animal, a hide;[2][3] skin as a material.[2]
  3. (slang) A prostitute.[2][1]
  4. (Medieval Latin) A membrane.[6]
  5. (New Latin) A film.[1]

Word family

  • pelliculō

Usage notes

The figurative phrases pelliculam cūrāre (“to look after oneself”) and in pelliculā suā tenēre (“to stay within one's own station”) are attested in Horace and Martial.[2][3]

References

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