fiscella Latin · revision 34262

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

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

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

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

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''fiscella''' ''f'' (genitive fiscellae); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+ A masculine ''fiscellus'' occurs in Columella.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Conte 2010)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a diminutive of [[m|la|fiscina|t=wicker basket]], formed with [[m|la|-ella]].^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Wiktionary) That word comes from [[m|la|fiscus|t=basket]], for which de Vaan finds no etymology: a derivation ⟨*fid-sko-⟩ from [[m|la|findō|t=to cleave]] is conceivable but gratuitous.^(de Vaan 2008) Augustine and Isidore already derived it from ⟨fiscus⟩.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan and Köbler record it first in Cato,^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) who says oxen should wear ''fiscellae'' while ploughing so that they do not nibble at the grass.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is a small basket woven of twigs or rushes, used for fruit and as a strainer, above all for draining cheese.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Virgil has a basket woven of slender marshmallow, ''gracili fiscellam texit hibisco'', and Tibullus, Ovid and Columella also use it.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Conte 2010) Besides the muzzle for oxen in Cato and Pliny the Elder, Varro uses it of a wicker guard tied on ewes to keep the rams off.^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010) A glossary explains it as a cheese mould, ''forma ubi casei exprimuntur''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(TLL) Medieval writers in Britain use it of a small basket, glossed in Old English, of a cheese basket, and of the basket of bulrushes in which the infant Moses was set out by the river.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of a muzzle for oxen.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of a guard for ewes.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil has a basket woven of marshmallow.^(Conte 2010)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1st century AD – Columella uses it of baskets for cheese and fruit.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A small [[m|en|basket]] of wicker or rushes, used for fruit and as a strainer, especially in [[m|en|cheesemaking]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Conte 2010)

+ # A wicker [[m|en|muzzle]] for cattle; a guard tied on ewes against the rams.^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[fiscina]]

+ * [[fiscus]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}