sucula

Forms

sūcula f (genitive sūculae); first declension^[1] Lewis & Short and Gaffiot mark the first vowel short (sŭcula).^[2][3] Wiktionary gives the spelling succula as well.^[4]

Etymology

It is from Latin sūs (“pig, sow”) + -cula, literally “little sow”.^[1][5][4] The windlass is usually explained as a metaphor, the device with its attachments being compared to a sow with her litter; the technical use of porculus (“piglet”) for a part of the apparatus supports this.^[4][1] Lewis & Short instead tentatively connected it with Ancient Greek σεύω (seúō, “to drive”).^[2] De Vaan traces sūs to Proto-Italic *sūs and Proto-Indo-European *suH- (“pig, swine”), which he thinks originally meant “sow”.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus on.^[5][6] In the Rudens the windlass is played on with the sense “little sow”.^[2][7][3]

Semantic evolution

Cato uses it of the windlass of a wine or oil press,^[2][3] and Vitruvius of machines for lifting.^[2][8] The jurists of the Digest also name it.^[2]

The plural Suculae was the Latin name of the Hyades, a mistranslation of the Greek name, which was taken to come from ὗς (hûs, “pig”) instead of ὕω (húō, “to rain”).^[7][3][2] Through Late Latin suculus it gave Italian succhio and succhiello “gimlet”;^[4][8] Conte explains the name by the likeness of the tool to a pig's tail.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a windlass, with a pun on “little sow”.^[2][7][6]
• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of the windlass of a press.^[2][3][6]
• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius describes it among lifting machines.^[2][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses the plural Suculae for the Hyades.^[7][3][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A windlass, winch or capstan for hauling or lifting.^[1][2]
2. The windlass of a wine or oil press.^[2][3]
3. (plural, Suculae) The Hyades.^[7][3][8]

Related words

• Suculae

Usage notes

In Plautus' Rudens it also means “little sow”, in a pun on the windlass;^[2][7][3][8] Lewis & Short find that sense only there.^[2][7][3][8] Wiktionary records the literal diminutive of sūs as rare.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
4. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b c d e f Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier