pusillus Latin · revision 31668

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=derivation|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [pʊˈsɪl.lʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [puˈs̬il.lus]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''pusillus''' (feminine pusilla, neuter pusillum); first/second-declension adjective^(Wiktionary)

+ The grammarian Scaurus attests the spelling with ''-ll-''.^(TLL) The OLD records a comparative ''pusillior''.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a diminutive, probably of [[pullus|t=young of an animal]] according to the OLD, of [[pūsus|t=little boy]] according to Lewis and Short and the TLL.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010) Wiktionary reconstructs [[itc-pro|*putslelos|alt=*put-sle-los]], with ⟨*pussillos⟩ reduced to a single ⟨s⟩, from [[ine-pro|*put-lo-|t=son]], the source also of ⟨pullus⟩.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Köbler's first source is Plautus,^(Köbler 2010) in whom a tiny mouse appears.^(OLD 2012) Cato has it of small boys.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is “very small, tiny”, of size, and in the neuter a tiny amount: Cicero has a tiny bit of space, and calls his villa at Cumae “a sort of miniature Rome”.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Horace says the gods made him of small spirit and few words.^(OLD 2012) It is then “petty, insignificant”, as Catullus' petty back-street adulterers, and of character “mean, small-minded”: Cicero calls it the act of a petty and spiteful mind not to give a king his title.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ Church Latin glosses it “little, small, tiny, puny”, and as a neuter noun a trifling matter.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a tiny mouse.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato of small boys.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero of a tiny place and a petty mind.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus of petty adulterers.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Very small, [[m|en|tiny]];^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995) ''(neuter as noun)'' a tiny amount.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # [[m|en|petty|alt=Petty]], trifling, insignificant.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Of character, petty, mean, small-minded.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[perpusillus]]

+ * [[pusillanimis]]

+ * [[pusillitās]]

+ * [[pusillulus]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[pullus]]

+ * [[pūsus]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Döderlein distinguishes ''parvus'' and ''minūtus'', which denote littleness without any further notion, from ''exiguus'' and ''pusillus'', which add contempt: ''exiguus'' pitiable and paltry, ''pusillus'' ludicrously petty.^(Döderlein 1874)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}