Etymologically
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pullus

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈpʊl.lʊs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈpul.lus][1]

Forms

pullus m (genitive pullī); second declension[1]

Etymology

Its origin is disputed.[1] It may be inherited from Proto-Italic *polnos, from Proto-Indo-European *polH-on- (“young animal”), cognate with Ancient Greek πῶλος (pôlos, “foal”), Gothic 𐍆𐌿𐌻𐌰 (fula, “foal”) and Albanian pjellë (“offspring”).[1][2] The OLD derives it from *putslos and compares Sanskrit पुत्र (putrá-, “son”) and Latin puer.[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Ennius and Plautus.[5] Köbler dates Ennius 204–169 BC.[5]

Semantic evolution

It was the young of an animal, a foal, as Varro's foals born of these horses, and especially a young bird, a chick or chicken.[3][4] The pullārius kept the sacred chickens whose feeding gave the auspices.[6] As a pet name it was used for a child, as Horace says a father calls a stunted son his chick, and of plants it was a young shoot, as Cato's suckers springing from the ground.[3]

It survives in Italian pollo and Spanish pollo “chicken”, and the feminine Vulgar Latin *pulla gave French poule “hen”, the source of English pullet and English poultry in the late 14th century.[1][7] Late Latin pullānus “young animal” gave French poulain “foal”, from whose diminutive came English pony in the 1650s.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.[5]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato speaks of shoots springing from the ground.[3][5]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro speaks of foals.[3][5]
  • late 14th century – English pullet and poultry are recorded.[7]
  • 1650s – English pony is recorded.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The young of an animal; a foal.[3]
  2. A young bird, chick, chicken.[4][6]
  3. (term of endearment) A child, “chick”.[3]
  4. A young shoot, sprout.[3]

Word family

  • pullārius
  • pullastra
  • pullīnus
  • pullō
  • pullulus
  • pullitiēs
  • pullicēnus
  • pullum
  • palleō
  • puer
  • gallīna
  • English pullet
  • English poultry
  • English pony

Usage notes

Pullus, -a, -um is a different word, an adjective “drab, dark grey”, used of mourning clothes and of the dark volcanic soil of Campania, cognate with Ancient Greek πολιός (poliós, “grey”).[8][3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill