Etymologically
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umbraculum

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ʊmˈbraː.kʊ.ɫũː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [umˈbraː.ku.lum][1]

Forms

umbrāculum n (genitive umbrāculī); second declension[1] The syncopated spelling umbrāclum is also found.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin umbra (“shade”) + -culum,[2][1][3] or from the verb derived from it, umbrō (“to shade”).[1] De Vaan connects umbra with Lithuanian ùnksna (“shade”) and reconstructs it as *unksrā-, which could have become ⟨umbra⟩ through intermediate stages; he finds no likely root for it.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Varro,[3][4] who in his work on agriculture advises building umbracula near the threshing floor, “where the men can go in the heat at midday”.[2]

Semantic evolution

It named anything that kept off the sun: a shelter or arbour (Varro, Virgil's Eclogues, Tibullus), and specially a parasol, which Ovid's Art of Love tells the reader to hold up himself.[2][5] Cicero uses the plural for the shady retreats of scholars, contrasting Theophrastus' school with “the sun and dust” of public life.[2][5] Seneca uses it once, by an editor's correction, for an empty shadow of something.[2]

Later the Itala uses it of a refuge, and Salvian writes of shamelessness “without the least shade of modesty”.[6] Medieval writers used it of protection and shelter, figuratively of divine protection, of a canopy, tent or tabernacle, and of a helmet's visor.[7][8] Stelten gives “covering for a tabernacle”.[9]

Timeline

  • 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of shelters by a threshing floor.[2][3][4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the shady retreats of philosophers.[2][5][4]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a bower in the Eclogues.[2][5][4]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of a parasol.[2][5][4]
  • 435/439 AD – Salvian uses it of a trace of modesty.[6][4]
  • 639–709 AD – Aldhelm uses it of divine protection.[7][4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A shelter from the sun, a shade; an arbour.[2][5]
  2. A parasol, sunshade.[2][5]
  3. (plural) A shady retreat, a place of study away from public life.[2][5]
  4. An empty form, a shadow.[2]
  5. (Late Latin) A refuge; a trace.[6]
  6. (Medieval Latin) Protection; a canopy, tent or tabernacle; a helmet's visor.[7][8][9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d 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 f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  7. ^ 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
  8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  9. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson