Etymologically
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versiculus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [wɛrˈsɪ.kʊ.ɫʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [verˈsiː.ku.lus][1]

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]

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