matella Latin · revision 33566

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=234–149 BC, Cato|origins=la matula}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [maˈtɛl.la]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [maˈtɛl.la]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''matella''' ''f'' (genitive matellae); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+ Lewis & Short also give the spelling ''matēla''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|matula|-la|t1=vessel, pot]], a diminutive.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Wiktionary) The origin of [[m|la|matula]] is uncertain.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Cato lists it among the vessels needed for an olive yard and a vineyard.^(TLL)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Lewis & Short also cite a fragment of Plautus quoted by Nonius, ''matella aquae''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In general it is a pot or vessel for liquids;^(OLD 2012)^(TLL) Nonius explains it as a water vessel.^(TLL) More often it is a [[m|en|chamber pot]]: Varro has the Chian wine jars of the rich brought back to the common chamber pot,^(OLD 2012) and it appears in Seneca, Petronius, Martial and Juvenal.^(OLD 2012) Martial's ''matellam praestāre'', to hand someone the chamber pot, stands for the lowest service,^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) and in Petronius ''mūs in matellā'', a mouse in the pot, is said of someone in a fix.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) Petronius also uses it as an insult for a woman.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) A glossary explains it as the kind of vessel the ancients urinated in,^(TLL) and in medieval British Latin it means a chamber pot.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato, among farm vessels.^(TLL)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro, of a chamber pot.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * before 66 AD – Petronius has the proverb ''mūs in matellā''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 40–102/103 AD – Martial, of a chamber pot.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|pot]], vessel for liquids.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A [[m|en|chamber pot]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(figurative, insulting)'' Of a woman: a loose woman.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[matelliō]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[matula]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}