muliercula Latin · revision 31948

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

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [mʊ.liˈɛr.kʊ.ɫa]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [mu.liˈɛr.ku.la]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''muliercula''' ''f'' (genitive mulierculae); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|mulier|-cula|t1=woman]], a diminutive.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(TLL) De Vaan shows from [[m|la|muliebris]] that [[m|la|mulier]] was originally an s-stem; the older view takes it as a comparative of the stem of [[m|la|mollis|t=soft]], and Klingenschmitt as a comparative “the better one, chief wife” to [[m|la|melior]], but de Vaan finds both difficult.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Köbler dates it from Plautus,^(Köbler 2010) and the TLL notes that in poetry it is found in Plautus and Terence.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is a little, weak or foolish woman, often contemptuous.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Lucretius uses it,^(Lewis & Short 1879) and Cicero has a man who said he enjoyed the murmur of a girl carrying water, a working woman.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary) In the Vulgate the “silly women laden with sins” of the Second Letter to Timothy are ''mulierculae'', and Church Latin glosses it “disgraceful woman, common woman”.^(DMLBS)^(Stelten 1995) Medieval writers also use it for a poor woman, as Aldhelm does.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^(Köbler 2010)^(TLL)

+ * 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero of a working woman carrying water.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 390–406 AD – The Vulgate of foolish women in the Letter to Timothy.^(DMLBS)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A little, weak or foolish [[m|en|woman]]; a mere woman.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A common working woman.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(Ecclesiastical Latin)'' A disreputable woman.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[mulierculārius]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[mulier]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}