puteal

Forms

puteal n (genitive puteālis); third declension^[1] Inscriptions also have the forms puteale and putiale.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin puteus (“well”) + -al.^[2][1][5] Wiktionary explains it as the neuter of the adjective puteālis (“of a well”) used as a noun, with the final ⟨-e⟩ lost and the vowel before ⟨-l⟩ shortened,^[1] and the TLL treats it under the adjective.^[4] For the base itself, de Vaan rules out a direct derivation from paviō (“to strike”) because of its short ⟨u⟩, finds a link with putō (“to prune”) semantically less attractive, and suggests that it may be a loanword.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record is a letter of Cicero to Atticus of 67 BC,^[4] in which he asks for two well-heads decorated with reliefs (putealia sigillata duo).^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

It was the stone curb, with its lid, around the mouth of a well.^[2][7] A similar enclosure marked a sacred spot, such as a place struck by lightning,^[8] and the best known stood in the Comitium at Rome: Cicero says that the whetstone and razor of the augur Attius Navius were buried there with a puteal over them.^[2][7] It was also called the puteal Libonis or Scribonianum after Scribonius Libo,^[8][5][3] and moneylenders gathered near it,^[2][8] as in Horace's Satires, where Roscius asks for someone's presence at the puteal the next morning.^[2]

In British Medieval Latin it could mean a spring, that of the Muses in Walter Map, and a glossary explains it as a sewer.^[9] The adjective lives on in Romance words for a bucket, such as Catalan pohal and Spanish pozal,^[4] and Italian has puteale from the noun.^[8]

Timeline

• 67 BC – Cicero asks for two decorated well-heads in a letter.^[4][2]
• 65–8 BC – Horace names the puteal as a meeting place.^[2][10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A stone curb or enclosure around the mouth of a well, with its lid.^[2][3][7]
2. A similar enclosure marking a sacred spot, especially the Puteal in the Comitium at Rome, a resort of moneylenders.^[2][8][5]
3. (Medieval Latin) A spring.^[9]
4. (Medieval Latin, in glossaries) A sewer.^[9]

Related words

• bidental
• puteus
• puteālis

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c 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
10. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de