lapillus Latin · revision 32923

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=116–27 BC, Varro|origins=itc-pro *la/eped-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

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

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

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''lapillus''' ''m'' (genitive lapillī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|lapis|-lus|t1=stone]], a diminutive.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(TLL) Wiktionary thinks it was probably formed on the stem ⟨lapid-⟩.^(Wiktionary) De Vaan reconstructs [[itc-pro|*la/eped-]] for [[m|la|lapis]] and compares Umbrian [[m|xum|vapeře|t=stone seat]] and [[grc|λέπας|tr=lépas|t=bare rock]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLL finds it from Catullus, the ''Bellum Africum'', Varro and Virgil on;^(TLL) Köbler dates it from Varro,^(Köbler 2010) who writes of water in which shards or pebbles lie.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is a small stone or pebble, as Ovid's stream that invites sleep with its rattling pebbles.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Pebbles had special uses: as sling shot, as in the ''Bellum Africum'', as counters in games and in voting, and to mark days, white for lucky and black for unlucky.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) It is also an ornamental or precious stone, a gem, as Horace's Libyan marble.^(OLD 2012) Pliny the Elder uses it of a stony lump in plants or animals, especially a stone in the bladder.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) Church Latin glosses it gem,^(Stelten 1995) and Wiktionary also gives a tombstone.^(Wiktionary) It lives on in southern Italian dialects, as Neapolitan ''rapello'' and Sicilian ''ripiddu''.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro of pebbles in water.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus uses the word.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 65–8 BC – Horace of Libyan marble.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of stony lumps in plants.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A small stone, [[m|en|pebble]]; a sling stone, counter or voting pebble.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A [[m|en|gem]], precious stone; marble.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # A stone in the body, especially in the bladder, [[m|en|calculus]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A [[m|en|tombstone]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[lapillīscō]]

+ * [[lapillulus]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[lapis]]

+ * [[calculus]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}