anicula Latin · revision 33527

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=190–159 BC, Terence|origins=ine-pro *h₂enH-o-}}

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''anicula''' ''f'' (genitive aniculae); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+ A syncopated ''anicla'' occurs in Prudentius.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ The ''Appendix Probi'' rejects the Vulgar form ''anucla'': ''anus non anucla''.^(Appendix Probi)^(TLL)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|anus#2|-cula|t1=old woman]], a diminutive.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(TLL) De Vaan traces [[m|la|anus#2|alt=anus]] to [[itc-pro|*anu-]] and [[ine-pro|*h₂enH-o-|t=old woman]], perhaps a nursery word.^(de Vaan 2008) Cognate with [[hit|hanna-]], [[prg|ane|t=old mother]], [[lt|anýta|t=mother-in-law]] and [[goh|ana|t=grandmother]].^(de Vaan 2008) Varro gives ⟨anicula⟩ and ⟨anicilla⟩ as the diminutives of ⟨anus⟩.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan and Köbler record it first in Terence,^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) who writes that no one well-disposed was with someone except ''unam aniculam'', “a single little old woman”.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is a little old woman or simply an old woman.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(OLD 2012) Cicero says that even old women do not believe something, and calls tales hardly worth the lamplight of old women.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Seneca and Petronius also use it.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Conte 2010) In medieval Britain, Aldhelm tells of a very decrepit old woman seen in a vision, and an Old English gloss renders it ''eald cwene''.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 190–159 BC – Terence uses it in the ''Phormio'' and the ''Andria''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of credulous old women.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 348/49–c. 413 AD – Prudentius has the syncopated ''anicla''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 639–709 AD – Aldhelm uses it in a vision story.^(DMLBS)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A little old woman; an [[m|en|old woman]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[anicilla]]

+ * [[aniculāris]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[anus#2]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}