venabulum

Forms

vēnābulum n (genitive vēnābulī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin vēnor (“to hunt”) + -bulum, with the suffix of instruments.^[2][1] De Vaan takes vēnor as probably made from an adjective ⟨*wēno-⟩ “hunting” or a noun Proto-Italic *wēnā- (“hunting”), from Proto-Indo-European *(H)uēnh₁- (“desire”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler and Lewis & Short find it first in a letter of Cicero,^[4][5] and de Vaan dates it from Varro.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It is the hunter's spear, and Lewis & Short cite it from Virgil, Ovid and Martial.^[5] Pliny the Elder uses it of large spear-like arrows for killing elephants.^[5] In medieval Latin it can also be a hunting dog.^[6]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero, in a letter, of a hunting spear.^[5][4]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil, of hunting spears.^[5][4]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid, of hunting spears.^[5][4]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder, of arrows for killing elephants.^[5][4]
• Medieval Latin – A hunting dog.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A hunting spear.^[2][5][1]
2. A large spear-like arrow used against elephants.^[5]
3. (Medieval Latin) A hunting dog.^[6]

Related words

• vēnor
• vēnātiō
• vēnātor
• vēnātus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b 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. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill