catulus Latin · revision 32386

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=itc-pro *kat-elo-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈka.tʊ.ɫʊs]^(Wiktionary)

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

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''catulus''' ''m'' (genitive catulī, feminine catula); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|itc-pro|*kat-elo-]], which also gave [[xum|katel]], the name of a certain sacrificial animal.^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012) De Vaan notes words of a similar shape in Germanic and Slavic, such as [[gmh|hatele|t=goat]], [[non|haðna|t=young goat]] and [[sh|kȏt|t=litter, breed]], but thinks an Indo-European origin unlikely, since the Slavic forms do not fit the vowel and the meanings do not match well.^(de Vaan 2008) The OLD compares [[mga|cadla|t=goat]] with a “perhaps”.^(OLD 2012) Lewis & Short took it as a diminutive of [[m|la|catus]].^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Plautus has it first, in the ''Asinaria'', where a new lover fawns even on the puppy of the house.^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is first a puppy or young dog, and Horace uses it of hunting dogs of any age.^(OLD 2012) It is also the young of other animals: Plautus has a sow trampling her young, Lucretius a panther's cub, Virgil and Horace lion cubs, and Pliny the Elder even young dolphins.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Lucilius uses it of a kind of iron fetter, as does Festus; according to Szemerényi this sense is a calque on [[grc|σκύλαξ|tr=skúlax|t=puppy; iron neck-chain]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012) Church Latin glosses it cub or whelp.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a puppy and of a sow's young.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius of a fetter worn with manacles and a collar.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of young dolphins.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A young dog, [[m|en|puppy]], [[m|en|whelp]]; also a dog of any age.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The young of other animals, a [[m|en|cub]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Stelten 1995)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A kind of iron [[m|en|fetter]].^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[catulārius]]

+ * [[catulīnus]]

+ * [[catuliō]]

+ * [[catellus]]

+ * [[catulaster]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Catulus was also a cognomen of the gens Lutatia, borne by Gaius Lutatius Catulus, consul in 242 BC, and by two Quintus Lutatii Catuli, consuls in 102 and 78 BC; the second gave his name to the first book of Cicero's ''Academica''.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}