trabecula

Forms

trabēcula f (genitive trabēculae); first declension^[1] Also spelled trabicula.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin trabs (“beam”) + -cula, a diminutive.^[2][1][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first author is Cato, who tells the reader to set a trabēcula under certain beams.^[2][5][4]

Semantic evolution

An inscription speaks of trabēculae abiegineae, small beams of fir, and Vitruvius uses it.^[2][3] In Medieval Latin it kept the sense: Matthew Paris tells of crossbow bolts so large that their bows might have been reckoned small beams, and English word lists gloss it with byndbalk and wynbeme.^[6]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it in his work on agriculture.^[2][4]
• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it.^[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small wooden beam.^[2][3][7][6]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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 d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ 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
7. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn