villula

Forms

vīllula f (genitive vīllulae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin vīlla (“country house, farm”) + -ula.^[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Cicero,^[5][3] who in a letter to Atticus describes one as shabby and very small (vīllula sordida et valdē pusilla).^[6]

Semantic evolution

Catullus and Horace use it of a small country house,^[6][3] and Apuleius has it too.^[3]

In medieval Latin it came to mean a hamlet or small village, and a small estate, either independent or part of a larger one.^[7] In Britain Bede uses it both of a small farm and of a village, calling Bethany a vīllula or town, and charters of the 9th century use it of a vill.^[8]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a small country house.^[3][6][5]
• 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus uses it.^[6][5]
• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it.^[3][6][5]
• first third of the 8th century AD – Bede uses it of a village.^[8][5]
• 855 – An English charter uses it of a vill.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small farmstead or country house, a small villa.^[2][3][4]
2. (Medieval Latin) A hamlet, a small village, a vill.^[7][8]
3. (Medieval Latin) A small estate.^[7]

Related words

• vīlla

Usage notes

A medieval villula “small towel”, from villus, is a separate word;^[7] Köbler finds it in Gregory of Tours.^[5]

References

1. ^ 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 c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b c d 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