turibulum

Forms

tūribulum n (genitive tūribulī); second declension^[1] Also spelled thūribulum.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is from Latin tūs (“frankincense”) + -bulum.^[5][6][7] tūs is an adaptation of Ancient Greek θύος (thúos).^[5][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it first in Cicero,^[7] who uses it in the Verrine speeches.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it is a vessel in which incense is burnt: Livy writes of censers set before the doors, Curtius of silver censers carried by attendants.^[9][2] Vitruvius and Germanicus use it for the southern constellation also called Āra, “the Altar”.^[5][2] In the Church it became the swinging censer of the liturgy,^[3][4] and medieval writers in Britain use it both of the censer and figuratively.^[10] It lives on in Italian turibolo.^[11]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it in the Verrine speeches.^[2][7]
• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it for the constellation Ara.^[5][7]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy writes of censers set before doors.^[9][7]
• 1st century AD – Curtius writes of silver censers carried by attendants.^[9][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A vessel in which incense is burnt, a censer.^[5][2][11]
2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A thurible.^[4][3]
3. The southern constellation Ara, the Altar.^[5][2][11]

Related words

• tūs

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
4. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
9. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
10. ^ 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
11. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier