pullulo

Forms

pullulō (present infinitive pullulāre, perfect active pullulāvī, supine pullulātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin pullulus (“young animal; sprout”) + -ō,^[2][3][1] the diminutive of pullus¹ (“young of an animal”);^[4] the TLL notes that it may instead be formed directly on ⟨pullus⟩, since ⟨pullulus⟩ is found only from Pliny the Elder on, ⟨pullus⟩ from Plautus.^[3] De Vaan takes ⟨pullus⟩ back to *put-lo- and Proto-Indo-European *put-lo- (“son”), with an ⟨s⟩ inserted in Latin.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Virgil uses it in the Georgics of trees that send up shoots from the root, like cherries and elms.^[2][6][7]

Semantic evolution

From sprouting plants it passed to animals: Virgil uses it of teeming with black snakes,^[6] and Columella has vines that put out shoots.^[6] Figuratively it meant to spread or grow: Cornelius Nepos says that luxury was beginning to spread,^[6] and later writers such as Apuleius, Ammianus and Cyprian use it of things that spread and grow.^[6] Late authors also used it transitively, to bring forth or produce: Lactantius has the earth bringing forth a saviour.^[6] In Ecclesiastical Latin it means to sprout or shoot up.^[8]

English borrowed its participle as English pullulate “to germinate, bud” in the 1610s.^[4]

Timeline

• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of trees sprouting from the root.^[2][7]
• 1st century AD – Columella uses it of vines putting out shoots.^[6][7]
• beginning of 3rd century–258 AD – Cyprian uses it of things that spread.^[6][7]
• c. 250–317 AD – Lactantius uses it transitively, to bring forth.^[6][7]
• 1610s – English borrows it as pullulate.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. (of a plant) To put forth new growth, to sprout.^[2][6]
2. (of new growth) To spring forth, emerge.^[2]
3. (of animals) To bring forth young; to teem.^[6]
4. (figurative) To spread, grow, increase.^[6]
5. (transitive, Late Latin) To bring forth, produce.^[6]

Word family

• repullulō
• pullulascō

Related words

• pullō
• pullus¹
• English pullulate

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson