stilla

Forms

stīlla f (genitive stīllae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is probably a diminutive from Latin stīria (“frozen drop, icicle”).^[2][3][1][4] The OLD gives this with “perhaps”.^[2] Wiktionary compares Ancient Greek στίλη (stílē, “minute particle, a drop”),^[1] which Döderlein also adduces.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero has it in De finibus (3.45), of a drop of brine (stilla muriae).^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it is rare and means a drop of a thick or prepared liquid, such as oil, vinegar, brine or resin; a Suetonius fragment distinguishes gutta, a natural drop of rain, from stilla, a drop of oil or vinegar.^[3] Döderlein likewise calls gutta the natural drop and stilla an artificial, measured drop, with the stress on wetness rather than smallness.^[5]

From the post-Augustan period it also meant a tiny amount, a drop of something.^[3][1] Augustine spoke of “drops of time”, moments,^[7][3] and Ecclesiastical Latin uses it for a moment.^[8] In later Latin it became a synonym of gutta, used for raindrops in the Vulgate.^[3][1]

Timeline

• 45 BC – Cicero writes of a drop of brine in De finibus.^[3][6]
• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius describes a tree that is dry and without drops.^[3][4]
• 40–102/103 AD – Martial uses it for a small quantity of oil.^[3][7][4]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine speaks of brief moments as drops of time.^[7][3][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A drop of liquid, especially of a thick liquid such as oil or vinegar.^[2][3]
2. A small quantity, a little.^[3][7]
3. (Late Latin) A moment of time.^[7][8]
4. (Late Latin) Any drop, a raindrop.^[3][1]

Word family

• stīllārium
• stīllicidium
• stillifer
• stīllō
• stīllātim

Related words

• stīllanter
• stīllātīcius
• stīllātiō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 j k l m Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson