Etymologically
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pupula

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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]

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