pupula

Forms

pūpula f (genitive pūpulae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is a diminutive, from Latin pūpa (“girl; doll”) + -ula.^[2][1][3] De Vaan takes that noun, like pūpus (“boy”), as probably a reduplication of the ⟨pū-⟩ found in puer (“boy”), reduplication being common in affectionate words; he finds Pokorny's derivation from a root meaning “to inflate” possible but less likely.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL and Köbler first record it in Varro,^[4][5] who in a fragment quoted by Nonius speaks of small black pupils of the eye.^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

The sense “pupil of the eye” is the commonest in classical Latin;^[7] Georges compares Greek κόρη (kórē, “girl; pupil”), the pupil being so called because a small image of the onlooker appears in it.^[7] Lucretius speaks of an eye that keeps its sight if the pupil remains unharmed, and Cicero calls the part with which we see the pūpula;^[2][8] Horace and Apuleius use it, by metonymy, for the eye itself, as when Apuleius rubs his eyes to learn whether he is awake.^[7][2][8]

The sense “little girl” is found in inscriptions, where ā pūpulā means “from girlhood”, and in other inscriptions;^[2][7] Apuleius has mea pūpula, “my little girl”, as a term of endearment.^[2][6] In Vitruvius the OLD doubtfully reads it for a small doll.^[2]

British medieval writers used it for the pupil, for the eye, figuratively for the eye of the mind, and for a kind of abscess in a falcon.^[9]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of the pupils of the eye.^[6][7][5]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of the pupil.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero names the pupil pūpula.^[2][5]
• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it for the eyes.^[7][5]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it as a term of endearment.^[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A little girl;^[2][6] (as a term of endearment) “my little girl”.^[2][7]
2. (doubtful) A small doll.^[2]
3. The pupil of the eye;^[2][6] (by metonymy) the eye.^[7][8]
4. (Medieval Latin) A kind of abscess (in a falcon).^[9]

Related words

• pūpilla
• puer

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b 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