Etymologically
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reticulum

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [reːˈtɪ.kʊ.ɫũː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [reˈtiː.ku.lum][1]

Forms

rēticulum n (genitive rēticulī); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin rēte (“net”) + -culum, a diminutive of the word for a net.[2][1][3] Etymonline describes it as a double diminutive of rēte.[4] The OLD records a masculine by-form ⟨rēticulus⟩ beside the neuter.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler and Lewis & Short date it from Plautus, who speaks of hunting “with a little net in the middle of the sea”;[3][5] Georges notes that the editors Goetz and Loewe read reti iaculo (“with a casting net”) in that line instead.[6]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it named any small net or net-like bag for holding things: Cicero has one full of roses held to the nose, Horace a net bag of bread carried on the shoulder, Ovid a net for playing ball, Seneca a strainer for wine.[2][5] It was also the net that held women's hair in place, which Varro already explains as the thing “that held the hair”,[2] and it is worn by Fortunata in Petronius and mocked on an effeminate man in Juvenal.[2] Fenestella and Festus use it for some kind of undergarment.[2]

The Vulgate also has the form ⟨rētiāculum⟩, and uses the word for the caul over the liver.[5][6] In British Medieval Latin it was a small net for fish or rabbits, a hairnet or coif, a veil against insects, and the fat around the liver.[7] English took it in the 1650s as reticle, “a little net”.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it for a fishing net.[3][5]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro explains it as a hairnet and uses it for netting in an aviary.[2][3]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero mentions a net bag full of roses.[2][3]
  • before 66 AD – Petronius describes a golden hairnet.[2][3]
  • 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it for the caul over the liver.[5][3]
  • 1650s – English borrows it as reticle.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A small net or net bag for holding, carrying or confining something.[2][5]
  2. A hairnet.[2][5]
  3. Some kind of undergarment.[2]
  4. A strainer or colander.[5][6]
  5. A net used in playing ball.[5][6]
  6. Netting or latticework, for example in an aviary.[2][5]
  7. (Late Latin) The caul or omentum over the liver.[5][6]
  8. (Medieval Latin) A veil to keep off insects.[7]

Word family

  • rēticulātus
  • English reticle

References

  1. ^ a b c d 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 c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  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