poculum

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈpoː.kʊ.ɫũː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈpɔː.ku.lum]^[1]

Forms

pōculum n (genitive pōculī); second declension^[1] Also contracted pōclum.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *pōklom, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *péh₃tlom (“drinking vessel”), from *peh₃- (“to drink”), the root of bibō “to drink”.^[1] The OLD and Gaffiot analyse it as the root ⟨po-⟩ of pōtō with the suffix -culum.^[2][4] Isidore derives it from ⟨pōtāre⟩.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citations are from Plautus, of a cup and a drink.^[2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[6]

Semantic evolution

It was a drinking vessel, cup, bowl, as in Plautus; the contents of a cup, a drink, a draught, as in Cicero's pōculum mortis exhaurīre “to drain the cup of death”; and in the plural drink in general, as in Virgil.^[2][4]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it was a goblet, cup.^[7] British Medieval Latin used it for a cup, glossed Old English drenccuppe, and figuratively, as in Bede.^[8] Spanish búcaro and Italian bucchero were borrowed from it, and English took both poculum and bucchero.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^[2][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero has pōculum mortis.^[4][6]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of drink.^[2][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A drinking vessel, cup, goblet.^[2]
2. A drink, draught, (plural) drink.^[2]

Word family

• dēpōculō
• pōcillum
• pōculentus

Related words

• pōtō
• pōtiō
• bibō

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
5. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ 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