versiculus

Forms

versiculus m (genitive versiculī); second declension^[1] Inscriptions have versuculus.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin versus (“line, verse”) + -culus, a diminutive.^[2][1][3] De Vaan lists versus among the derivatives of vertō (“to turn”), from Proto-Indo-European *wert- (“to turn”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero.^[5] In the OLD's earliest quotation Cicero mocks an account of a quaestorship given in three short lines.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is a short line of writing: Cicero complains of three lines from Brutus, and speaks of a line of a letter.^[3] It is also a short line of verse, and in the plural light or epigrammatic poetry: Cicero says that the language of the comic poets differs from everyday speech only by being in verse.^[2] Inscriptions have ⟨versuculus⟩.^[2] In Church Latin it is a short verse, a versicle, and in medieval Latin a verse of the Bible.^[6][7]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero of a few lines of writing and of verse.^[2][3][5]
• medieval – A verse of the Bible.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A short line of writing, a mere line.^[2][3][1]
2. A short line of verse; in the plural, light verses.^[2][1]
3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A short verse, versicle.^[6]
4. (Medieval Latin) A verse of the Bible.^[7]

Related words

• versus
• vertō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill