tabella Latin · revision 30729

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=la tabula}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [taˈbɛl.la]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [taˈbɛl.la]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''tabella''' ''f'' (genitive tabellae); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+ The Senatus consultum de Bacchanalibus has the old nominative plural ''tabelai''.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is the diminutive of [[m|la|tabula|t=board, tablet]], formed with [[m|la|-ella]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Lewis & Short 1879) The origin of ⟨tabula⟩ is uncertain: de Vaan sets up [[itc-pro|*taf/þlā-|t=board]] and, following Southern, a root ⟨*teh₂-⟩ “to stand” (without the ⟨s⟩ of [[m|la|stō]]) with the instrument suffix ⟨*-dʰlo-⟩, “that which stands”; he compares [[xum|tafle|t=a vessel for carrying the sacrificial fire]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Plautus, ''Bacchides'', asks for ''stilum, cēram et tabellās'', “a stylus, wax and tablets”.^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ A ''tabella'' is a small flat board (Varro: the shield is made of small boards) or a plaque of other material, a board for games (Ovid), and a placard or notice.^(OLD 2012) In public life it is the voting tablet: of acquittal or condemnation in the courts (Cicero's ''iūdiciālis tabella''), for a candidate at an election, and for or against a law in the assembly, as when tablets were handed out with none marked ''utī rogās'', “as you propose”.^(OLD 2012) It is also a painted panel, a picture, and especially a votive picture offered to a god after escape from danger (Ovid).^(OLD 2012) In the plural ''tabellae'' are wax-coated writing tablets bound together, a notebook, and any written document, a letter or contract: Cicero mentions tablets of an agreement sealed by several respectable men.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ Church Latin glosses it “small table, tablet, flat board”;^(Stelten 1995) in medieval Latin it is also a money-changer's desk.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of writing tablets.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero of voting tablets and of a sealed contract.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of a game board, a placard and a votive picture.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A small board, [[m|en|tablet]], plaque.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # A board for games.^(OLD 2012)

+ # A placard, notice, signboard.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A voting tablet, [[m|en|ballot]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A painted panel, picture; a [[m|en|votive]] picture.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(plural)'' Writing tablets, a notebook; a letter, [[m|en|contract]], document.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A money-changer's desk.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[tabellārius]]

+ * [[tabelliō]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[tabula]]

+ * [[tabulātum]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}