pupillus

Forms

pūpillus m (genitive pūpillī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is the diminutive of pūpus (“boy, child”), formed with -illus, through ⟨pūpulus⟩.^[2][3][4][1] Augustine already explains it as a diminutive of ⟨pūpus⟩ and ⟨pūpulus⟩.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from the Twelve Tables.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It is an orphan boy, and a minor under the care of a guardian, a ward, as in Cicero's speeches against Verres, Horace and the Table of Heraclea.^[2][3][1] The Vulgate uses it of the orphan, as in Exodus and in the Epistle of James, where caring for orphans and widows is true religion.^[3]

Church Latin glosses it “orphan boy, ward, small boy”.^[6] English pupil, in the late 14th century, first meant an orphan or ward, through Old French.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 450 BC – The Twelve Tables.^[5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of wards.^[3][5]
• 65–8 BC – Horace.^[3][5]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate of orphans.^[3][5]
• late 14th century – Borrowed into English as pupil, through Old French.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A ward, a minor under a guardian.^[2][3][1][6]
2. An orphan boy.^[3][1][6]

Word family

• pūpillāris
• pupillatus

Related words

• pūpus
• pūpilla
• tūtor
• orbus
• English pupil

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com