phaselus

Forms

phasēlus m (genitive phasēlī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek φάσηλος (phásēlos, “bean”).^[2][3][4] Beekes takes the Latin word as probably borrowed from Greek;^[4] Pisani assumed the opposite direction, with the Greek word an Italic loan related to φακός (phakós, “lentil”), and Walde and Hofmann assumed a Mediterranean origin for both.^[4] Wiktionary likewise allows a borrowing either from Greek or from the substrate language that was the source of the Greek word,^[1] and Köbler calls it a loanword from the Mediterranean area.^[5] The Greeks too used the word for small boats, from their likeness to the bean's pod.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dated record is a fragment of Sisenna's Histories, with the spelling ⟨fas-⟩.^[2][5] The oldest complete texts, Catullus' poem beginning “phaselus ille quem videtis” and Cicero's letters, use it for a light ship.^[6][2]

Semantic evolution

The plant is a bean with an edible pod, perhaps Vigna sinensis or a similar plant;^[2][6][7] Virgil calls it cheap (“vilem phaselum”), and Columella and Palladius also mention it.^[2][6][7] The boat named after it was light, used mostly to carry passengers;^[2] Lewis and Short describe such boats of wicker, papyrus or even painted clay, and Juvenal speaks of clay phaseli.^[6] Isidore gives the popular form faselus.^[8]

In British Medieval Latin it remained a word for a small boat, glossed in English as a galley.^[9] Its diminutive is phaseolus.^[1][8]

Timeline

• 120–67 BC – Sisenna's Histories have the word with ⟨f⟩.^[2][5]
• 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus writes of a phaselus, a light ship.^[6][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero mentions sending a letter from a phaselus.^[6][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil names the bean in the Georgics.^[2][5]
• 1st century AD – Columella writes of the bean.^[6][5]
• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville records the popular spelling faselus.^[8][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A bean with an edible pod, the kidney bean or a similar plant.^[2][6]
2. A light ship, used mostly to carry passengers.^[2][6]
3. (Medieval Latin) A small boat, a galley.^[9]

Word family

• phaseolus

Usage notes

It is masculine or feminine, and is also written phasēlos (with Greek forms), phasellus and faselus.^[2][6][8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
9. ^ 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