Etymologically
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puteus

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈpʊ.te.ʊs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈpuː.te.us][1]

Forms

puteus m (genitive puteī); second declension[1]

Etymology

Its origin is unknown; the OLD calls it doubtful and the TLL says nothing is established about it.[2][3] De Vaan suggests a loanword, according to Wiktionary, which also reports a derivation from Proto-Indo-European *pewH- (“to cut, strike”), the root Köbler gives.[1][4] Lewis and Short connected it with pūrus, which the others do not.[5] A neuter ⟨puteum⟩ is also found, as in Varro.[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is from Plautus, of a well.[2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[4]

Semantic evolution

It meant a well, as in Plautus and Cicero's puteī iūgēs “perennial wells”.[2][5][6] The TLL takes its first sense to have been something dug.[3] From Virgil it meant any deep pit, in Pliny the Elder a mine shaft, and in Plautus a pit for prisoners or for storing grain.[2][6] In Seneca it seems to have meant a fiery phenomenon in the sky.[2]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant a pit, well, trench or grave.[7] It survives in Italian pozzo, French puits and Spanish pozo.[1] Köbler derives Old English pytt from it through a Germanic *puti-, whence English pit.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a well and of a pit for prisoners.[2][4]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a deep pit.[2][4]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of a mine shaft.[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A well.[2]
  2. A pit; a shaft; a pit for prisoners or grain.[2]
  3. A fiery phenomenon in the sky.[2]

Word family

  • puteal
  • puticulī
  • English pit

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 l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson