Etymologically
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peniculus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [peːˈnɪ.kʊ.ɫʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [peˈniː.ku.lus][1]

Forms

pēniculus m (genitive pēniculī); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is a diminutive from Latin pēnis + -culus, literally “a little tail”.[2][3][4] De Vaan traces pēnis to Proto-Italic *petsni- (“tail”).[4] It is usually connected with Proto-Indo-European *pes-ni- (“penis”), but de Vaan argues that “tail” is the original meaning and “penis” a metaphor from it.[4]

Festus explains that brushes for cleaning shoes were made from the ends of tails, hence the name.[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus (c. 250–184 BC) on,[4][6] for a sponge: in the Rudens something is wrung out “as a new sponge usually is”.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

In the Menaechmi Plautus has a parasite called Peniculus, “Brush”, who says the young men gave him the name because he wipes the table clean when he eats;[3] Lewis & Short think the name may also play on the obscene sense.[3] The word meant a brush for dust and a sponge, used also by Terence,[3] and in the Digest a painter's brush.[3] In Medieval Latin it could mean a scourge.[7][1]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it for a sponge and as the name of a parasite.[2][3][6]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence uses it for a sponge.[3][6]
  • second half of the 2nd century AD – Festus explains it as a brush made from tails.[3][6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A brush for removing dust, originally made of an ox's or horse's tail.[2][3]
  2. A sponge.[2][3]
  3. A painter's brush.[3]
  4. (perhaps, in a pun) The penis.[3]
  5. (Medieval Latin) A scourge.[7][1]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e 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 j k l m n Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d 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 c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill