petalum

Forms

petalum n (genitive petalī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek πέταλον (pétalon, “leaf; thin plate of metal”).^[1][2][3][4] The Greek word is the noun use of the neuter of the adjective πέταλος (pétalos, “outspread, broad, flat”),^[4] and Köbler connects it with Proto-Indo-European *pet- (“to spread out”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Servius, commenting on Virgil's Eclogues, says that leaves were once called petala, but writes the word in Greek letters.^[2] As a Latin word it is first found in Rufinus (c. 345–411/412 AD), who says that the apostle John was a priest who wore the pontifical petalum, the gold plate on a high priest's forehead.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Its main Late Latin sense was a thin sheet of metal, usually gold, and above all the gold plate of the Jewish high priest.^[2][6][1] Eucherius notes that the old translation of Exodus has petala where the new one has lamminae, and describes the petalum as a gold plate on the high priest's forehead bearing the ineffable name of God, the Tetragrammaton;^[2] Isidore of Seville explains it the same way.^[2][7] In the Latin Josephus made under Cassiodorus, Solomon paves the floor of the temple with gold petala.^[2] A Latin version of Oribasius uses it of thin slices cut from radish roots.^[2]

Medieval writers kept the sense of a metal sheet: Aldhelm writes of tawny gold petala.^[3] Through a misunderstanding it also came to mean a bishop's crosier:^[6] in Heriger of Lobbes the crooked staff that most call cambuta is called petalum by others.^[8] British glossaries use it for the husk of grain and for a square marble tessera or paving stone.^[3][8] In New Latin botany it became the petal of a flower,^[1][4] the source of the English word.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 345–411/412 AD – Rufinus writes of the pontifical petalum worn by the apostle John.^[2][5]
• c. 380–c. 450 AD – Eucherius explains it as the gold plate inscribed with the Tetragrammaton.^[2][5]
• c. 485–c. 580 AD – The Latin Josephus of Cassiodorus has the temple floor paved with gold petala.^[2][5]
• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville defines it as a thin metal sheet.^[7][2][5]
• 639–709 AD – Aldhelm writes of petala fulva, tawny gold leaves.^[3][5]
• 1704 – English borrows the plural petala for the parts of a corolla, and petal follows in 1726.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Late Latin) A thin sheet or plate of metal, usually gold.^[2][7][6]
2. (Late Latin, Judaism) The gold plate worn on the forehead of the Jewish high priest, inscribed with the name of God.^[2][6][1]
3. (Late Latin) A thin slice, as of a root.^[2]
4. (Medieval Latin) A bishop's crosier.^[6][8]
5. (Medieval Latin) The husk of grain.^[3][1]
6. (Medieval Latin) A square marble tile or paving stone.^[3][8][1]
7. (New Latin, botany) A petal.^[1][4]

Word family

• āpetalus

Related words

• callipetalon
• eupetalos
• leontopetalon
• myrtopetalon
• English petal

Usage notes

The TLL also records a masculine petalus and perhaps a feminine petala, and the Greek accusative petalon.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e f 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
4. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ a b c d du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre