rutabulum

Forms

rutābulum n (genitive rutābulī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ruō (“to dig up, rake”), through an unattested frequentative *rutō, with the instrument suffix -bulum.^[2][1] De Vaan files it under the verb meaning “to dig”, which he traces to Proto-Indo-European *(H)reuH- (“to tear out, dig”); he notes that its derivatives and those of the verb meaning “to rush” have become mixed up.^[3]

Cognates of the root include Lithuanian ráuti (“to tear out”) and Old Norse rýja (“to tear out wool”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cato (234–149 BC) lists it in De agri cultura among the equipment of a farm; it was a long tool with a flattened end for moving the coals in an oven.^[2][4][5]

Semantic evolution

An ancient explanation describes it as the tool country people used to rake the fire when baking bread, and it appears in a comedy of Novius and in Suetonius.^[2][4] Columella uses it for a wooden paddle to stir thick liquids such as pitch.^[2][4]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato lists it among farm tools.^[2][5]
• 1st century BC – Novius uses it in a comedy.^[2][5]
• 1st century AD – Columella, of a wooden paddle for pitch.^[2][5]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it.^[4][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A fire rake or oven rake, for moving coals.^[2][4]
2. A wooden paddle or spatula for stirring thick liquids.^[2][4][1]

Related words

• rutrum

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b 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 c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de