scalprum

Forms

scalprum n (genitive scalprī); second declension^[1] A masculine form scalper, genitive scalprī, is certain in Celsus.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin scalpō (“to scratch, carve”), with the suffix of instrument nouns.^[2][1][4] The OLD explains it as probably dissimilated from an older ⟨*scalplom⟩, with the suffix -lum;^[2] Wiktionary gives the suffix as -rum.^[1]

The verb itself has no certain etymology: de Vaan tentatively connects it with Proto-Indo-European *sk(e)lp- (“to split off”),^[4] and Köbler and Pokorny with a root *skelp- (“to cut, peel, scratch”).^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first use is in Cato's treatise on farming,^[4][2] where a strip of bark is taken from a tree with the scalprum in budding.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it was a general name for a sharp tool for scraping, paring or cutting away, and its exact shape depended on the trade.^[2][3] Farmers used it in budding and pruning, and Columella gives the name to the forward point of the vine-dresser's billhook;^[2][7] for cobblers it was a paring knife (an inscription from Pompeii and Horace),^[2][7] for surgeons a chisel for cutting out bone (Lucilius, Celsus),^[2] and for sculptors and carpenters a chisel, as in Livy and Seneca.^[2][7] In Tacitus and Suetonius the scalprum librārium is a penknife, probably for sharpening reed pens.^[2][7]

Medieval glossaries render it as a small knife, a scraper or a borer, and British writers also used it for an engraving tool and for scraping parchment.^[8]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it in grafting.^[2][5]
• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius has the surgical sense.^[2][5]
• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of a cobbler's tool.^[2][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy has a carpenter's chisel (fabrile scalprum).^[2][7][5]
• 14–37 AD – Celsus writes the masculine scalper for a surgical chisel.^[2][5]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of a penknife.^[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A sharp tool for scraping, paring or cutting away; a knife or chisel.^[2][3]
2. (agriculture) A knife used in budding and pruning; the point of a vine-dresser's billhook.^[2][7]
3. A cobbler's paring knife.^[2][7]
4. (medicine) A surgical chisel for cutting away bone.^[2][7]
5. A sculptor's or carpenter's chisel.^[2][7]
6. A penknife, probably for sharpening reed pens.^[2][7]
7. (Medieval Latin) An engraving tool; a scraper for parchment.^[8]

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 l m n o p q r s t u v w Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c 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 f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ 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