qualum

Forms

quālum n (genitive quālī); second declension^[1] The masculine quālus is as common as the neuter; the OLD enters the word under it.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.^[4][1] It has often been compared with a Slavic word for a large wicker basket, Proto-Slavic *košь,^[4][1][2] but de Vaan finds the sound changes this needs unlikely.^[4] He finds more plausible a connection with quatiō “to shake”, which would make it inherited from Proto-Italic *kwat-slo- (“sieve, filter”), an instrument noun like Dutch doorslag “sieve” beside slaan “to beat”;^[4] the same root could also explain cōlum “strainer”.^[4][1] He adds that the whole account depends on the link with “shake”, so that a quite different origin remains possible.^[4] Köbler connects it with a reconstructed root for wickerwork and baskets, Proto-Indo-European *kᵘ̯asi̯o-.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus;^[4][5] in Cato's treatise on agriculture it names baskets for seed (quāla satōria) and the pierced baskets in which vines are layered.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It was a wicker basket or hamper for many uses: farmers used it for seed, fruit and the grape harvest,^[3][1] Columella of baskets kept very clean and of willow,^[3] and Virgil of close-woven baskets (spissō vīmine quālōs).^[3] In the house it was above all the wool basket of spinning women,^[6][1] as in an ode of Horace: tibi quālum Cytherēae puer āles aufert, “the winged boy of Cytherea takes your wool basket away”.^[7][3]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses the word.^[4][5]
• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it for seed baskets.^[3][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of close-woven baskets.^[3][5]
• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of a wool basket.^[3][7][5]
• 1st century AD – Columella uses it of willow baskets.^[3][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A wicker basket or hamper, for seed, fruit or the grape harvest.^[2][3][1]
2. A basket for straining wine.^[3][1]
3. A wool basket, a spinning basket.^[6][1]

Word family

• quasillum

Related words

• cōlum
• quatiō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 i j k l Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier