pumilio

Forms

pūmiliō m or f (genitive pūmiliōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.^[2] The OLD derives it from Latin pūmilus (“dwarfish”) with the suffix -iō,^[3] and the TLL agrees, although pūmiliō is recorded earlier than pūmilus.^[4] Ernout and Meillet, as de Vaan reports, took pūmiliō to be the older word and pūmilus a back-formation from it.^[2] Its shape suggests a borrowing of the personal name Ancient Greek Πυγμαλίων (Pugmalíōn), which Walde and Hofmann rejected because they doubted the sound change; de Vaan suggests the borrowing could be saved if the Romans took over πυγμή (pugmḗ, “fist”) and made a word for someone “the size of a fist”, or borrowed an unattested Greek noun, and compares πυγμαῖος (pugmaîos, “dwarf-like”).^[2][1] Adams instead read it as “little hairy one”, connecting it with pūbēs “body hair”, which de Vaan finds morphologically easier.^[2] The spelling ⟨poumil-⟩ in an inscription points to an old diphthong in the first syllable.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

An early inscription has the spelling poumil-;^[3] in literature it is first found in Lucretius,^[2] who uses it of a woman: parvula, pumilio, Χαρίτων μία “tiny, a dwarf, one of the Graces”.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant a person of very short stature, man or woman, a dwarf.^[3][5] Martial mentions dwarfs in his epigrams, and Seneca has a proverb about a dwarf on a mountain.^[5] By extension it was used of small breeds of fowl, bantams, in Columella and Pliny the Elder, and of dwarf plants.^[5] The TLL notes a dialect form pōmiliō.^[4]

Timeline

• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of a small woman.^[5][6]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca has the proverb of the dwarf on a mountain.^[5][6]
• 1st century AD – Columella uses it of dwarf fowls.^[5][6]
• 40–102/103 AD – Martial mentions dwarfs in his epigrams.^[5][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person of short stature, a dwarf.^[3][5]
2. (transferred) A dwarf fowl, a bantam; a dwarf plant.^[5]

Word family

• pūmileus

Usage notes

Seneca's proverb runs pumilio, licet in monte, non est magnus (“a dwarf, even on a mountain, is not tall”).^[5]

References

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