sagulum

Forms

sagulum n (genitive sagulī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin sagum (“military cloak”) + -ulum, a diminutive.^[2][1][3] De Vaan finds no etymology for the base noun;^[4] Walde and Hofmann, he notes, considered it a loan from Gaulish.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan records it first in Varro.^[4] Cicero uses it in the speech against Piso, of a small military cloak.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

Lewis and Short describe it as a small military cloak, usually the general's purple one.^[3] Caesar uses it of the dress of the Gauls and Livy speaks of a common soldier's cloak, sagulum gregale.^[6][5] Virgil's Gauls shine in their striped cloaks, and Tacitus calls the many-coloured cloak of the Germans sagulum versicolor.^[6][5] Medieval writers in Britain use it of a cloak or mantle, and in glossaries of a kind of cloth, say; the Corpus Glossary renders it with Old English loða.^[7]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it.^[4][8]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it in the speech against Piso.^[3][5][8]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it of the cloak of the Gauls.^[6][8]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus describes the sagulum of the Germans.^[3][6][8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small cloak, especially a soldier's or traveller's cloak.^[3][6][5]
2. (Medieval Latin) A cloak or mantle;^[7] in glossaries, a kind of cloth, say.^[7]

Word family

• sagulātus

Related words

• sagum

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
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 c 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 c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de