vitellus

Forms

vitellus m (genitive vitellī); second declension^[1] A neuter vitellum is found in Apicius and is quoted from Varro.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin vitulus (“calf”) + -ellus, a diminutive.^[3][1][2] That noun goes back to Proto-Italic *wet-elo- (“yearling, calf”) and to Proto-Indo-European *uet- (“year”).^[4]

The OLD gives the word for the yolk of an egg an entry of its own and derives it only “perhaps” from the little calf,^[3] while Lewis and Short, Georges and de Vaan treat the yolk as a further sense of the same word.^[2][5][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Plautus,^[4][6] in the Asinaria, as a term of endearment: agnellum me tuum dic esse edillum vel vitellum, “say that I am your little lamb, your little kid or your little calf”.^[7][2][5]

Semantic evolution

The sense of the yolk of an egg appears in Varro,^[4] and Cicero, Celsus, Horace, Petronius, Pliny the Elder and Martial all use it so.^[2][5] Lewis and Short record the little calf only in that passage of Plautus.^[2]

Medieval writers still used it for a calf: a Peterborough chronicle lists cows together with their calves (vaccae cum … vitellīs).^[7] Through Anglo-French and Old French it is the source of English veal.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it as a pet name, “little calf”.^[2][6]
• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it for the yolk of an egg.^[4][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of the yolk in the De divinatione.^[2][6]
• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of the yolk in the Satires.^[2][6]
• early 14th century – English veal, from it through French, is recorded.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A little calf, as a term of endearment.^[3][2][5]
2. The yolk of an egg.^[3][2][5]

Related words

• vitulus
• English veal

Usage notes

The OLD numbers the two senses as separate words, vitellus¹ “little calf” and vitellus² “yolk”.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e 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 c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com