tigillum

Forms

tigillum n (genitive tigillī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin tīgnum (“beam, timber”) + -illum, a diminutive.^[2][1][3] Wiktionary compares sigillum beside sīgnum.^[1] De Vaan takes ⟨tīgnum⟩ to go back to Proto-Italic *teg/k-no- (“plank, timber”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *(s)teg-no- (“covering”), the root that also gave building words such as tēctum and tēgula, rather than from *teḱ-no- (“product”); he explains the short /i/ of the diminutive by a raising of /e/ before a velar nasal that took place before vowels were reduced in non-initial syllables.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus;^[3][4] in the Aulularia someone is said to cry ruin dē suō tigillō fūmus sī qua exit forās, if any smoke goes out of doors from his bit of wood.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

It meant a small piece of wood and, more often, a small beam or plank.^[2][5] Catullus, Livy, Tibullus, Phaedrus and Juvenal use it of a little beam,^[5] and Livy names the tigillum sorōrium.^[2][5] Aurelius Victor has sub tigillum mittī, to be made to pass under a crossbeam.^[7]

In Late Latin alchemy it named a crucible or cupel, with reference to the Crucifixion.^[1] British medieval writers, from Aldhelm on, used it for a small timber beam or rafter.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a bit of wood in a house.^[5][4]
• 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus uses it of a little beam.^[5][4]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy names the tigillum sorōrium.^[5][4]
• 639–709 AD – Aldhelm uses it of a beam.^[8][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small piece of wood.^[5][7]
2. A small beam or plank.^[2][5]
3. (Late Latin, alchemy) A crucible or cupel.^[1]
4. (Medieval Latin) A rafter.^[8]

Related words

• tīgnum

References

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