servulus

Forms

servulus m (genitive servulī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin servus (“slave”) + -ulus, a diminutive, in Old Latin ⟨servolus⟩.^[2][1][3] De Vaan traces servus to Proto-Italic *serwo- (“shepherd”) and Proto-Indo-European *ser-u-o- (“guardian”), following Rix, who thinks a word for a guard or shepherd took on the sense "slave" in Italy between 700 and 450 BC.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus,^[4][5] who uses it in the Captivi, the Menaechmi and the Poenulus.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It is a young slave or servant boy, often with a sense of contempt for a mere or worthless slave, sometimes without any diminutive force.^[2][3] Terence and Cicero use it, and Pliny the Younger in his letters.^[3] Apuleius has the genitive plural servulum.^[3][6] In medieval letters it is a formula of humility, your humble servant, as in a letter of Wealdhere from 705.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus.^[3][4][5]
• 190–159 BC – Terence.^[3]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero.^[3]
• 705 – Wealdhere calls himself a humble servulus in a letter.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A young slave, servant boy; a mere or worthless slave.^[2][3][1][8]
2. (Medieval Latin) A humble servant, in formulas of self-abasement.^[7]

Related words

• servus
• serva
• servitium

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ 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. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson