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penicillus

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word penicillus

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
81–43 BC, Cicero
Ultimate origin
Latin pēnis
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin penis
English penis
Latin peniculus
Latin penicillus

Forms

pēnicillus m (genitive pēnicillī); second declension[1] Also neuter pēnicillum and pēnicillis;[1] manuscripts of Vegetius write penicell-.[2]

Etymology

It is a diminutive from Latin pēniculus (“brush”),[2] or, as the OLD analyses it, from Latin pēnis + -cillus.[1] Cicero himself explains it: the ancients called a tail ⟨penis⟩, and the brush was named from its likeness.[1][2] For the further origin of pēnis, see that word.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Cicero (81–43 BC),[4] meaning a paintbrush; in a letter he explains the word from penis, the old word for a tail.[1]

Semantic evolution

From the painter's brush Cicero also used it for the art of painting itself, saying that a supreme grief could not be imitated with the brush.[1] Celsus uses it in medicine for a swab or pad soaked in cold water,[1] Pliny the Elder for the softest kind of sponge,[1] and an inscription from Britain names an eye-salve with it.[1]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it for a painter's brush and for the art of painting.[1][4]
  • 14–37 AD – Celsus uses it for a medical swab.[1][4]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it for a kind of sponge.[1][4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A paintbrush, especially an artist's brush.[1]
  2. (by metonymy) The brush, the art of painting.[1]
  3. A kind of sponge.[1]
  4. An eye-salve, perhaps named from this.[1]
  5. (medicine) A swab, pad.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Penicillus.” Etymologically, 24 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/penicillus. Accessed 24 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·