radicula

Forms

rādīcula f (genitive rādīculae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin rādīx (“root”) + -ula, a diminutive.^[2][3][4] The base goes back to Proto-Italic *wrād-ī-.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan records it first in Laevius,^[3] a poet of the 2nd or 1st century BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it was a little root or rootlet, as in Columella, and also the root of a plant used in medicine or magic, as in Cicero.^[2] It was used in particular for the radish, as in Celsus, and for a plant used to wash wool, often identified with soapwort, in Pliny the Elder.^[2][6]

In medieval British sources it also named black hellebore.^[7] English borrowed it in the 1670s as radicle, a botanical term for the part of a seed that becomes the root.^[8]

Timeline

• 2nd–1st century BC – Laevius has the word.^[3][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a root used in divination or medicine.^[2][5]
• 14–37 AD – Celsus uses it for the radish.^[2][5]
• 1st century AD – Columella uses it for the rootlets of plants.^[2][5]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it for a plant used in preparing wool.^[2][5]
• 1670s – English borrows it as radicle.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A little root, rootlet.^[2][6]
2. The root of a plant used in medicine or magic.^[2]
3. A radish.^[2][6]
4. A plant used in preparing wool, perhaps soapwort.^[2][6]
5. (Medieval Latin) Black hellebore.^[7]

Related words

• English radicle

Usage notes

Manuscripts also write it rādīcla.^[4][5]

References

1. ^ a b c 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 d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
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 c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com