sabulum

Forms

sabulum n (genitive sabulī); second declension^[1] Also sabulō, sabulōnis (masculine), which Wiktionary treats as the main form.^[2][1] A syncopated sablum occurs in Pliny the Elder.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *saflo-, which de Vaan reconstructs with or without an initial /p/ and also with /þ/ or /b/ in place of /f/.^[5] He regards the word as a substrate word, built on a form like *sam- or *sab-.^[5] Wiktionary mentions the traditional derivation from Proto-Indo-European *sámh₂-dʰ- with a diminutive suffix, which it calls phonotactically impossible, and the more recent view of a European substrate word.^[1]

Compare Ancient Greek ψάμμος (psámmos) and ἄμαθος (ámathos), and Germanic words for “sand” such as Old Norse sandr and Old High German sant.^[5][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Varro,^[5] whose Menippean Satires speak of coarse sand lying along the walls of large peristyles.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It meant coarse sand or gravel,^[2][3] as distinct from harēna, and Döderlein notes that it denoted sand as a kind of light soil.^[6] Quintus Curtius, Columella and Pliny the Elder use it, Pliny for the white gravel near Ticinum that makes even rich soil barren.^[2][7]

Medieval British writers used both sabulum and sabulō for sand, sand of the shore, sand for building and ballast;^[8] Gildas and Aldhelm have it.^[8]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro mentions gravel in peristyles.^[2][5][7]
• 1st century AD – Quintus Curtius uses it.^[2][7]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder describes barren white gravel near Ticinum.^[2][7]
• 639–709 AD – Aldhelm uses sabulō of the sand of the shore.^[8][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. Coarse sand, gravel.^[2][3][9]
2. (Medieval Latin) Sand of a river bank or the shore; sand for building or ballast.^[8]

Word family

• sabulētum
• sabulō
• sabulōsus

Usage notes

Döderlein contrasts it with harena, dry, stony soil, while saburra was sand used as ballast.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c 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 c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
5. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
7. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ a b c d 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
9. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson