flosculus Latin · revision 34518

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=1st century BC, Cicero and Catullus|origins=ine-pro *bʰleh₃-ōs}}

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''flōsculus''' ''m'' (genitive flōsculī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|flōs|-culus|t1=flower]], a diminutive.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Wiktionary) De Vaan traces [[m|la|flōs]] to [[itc-pro|*flōs]] and [[ine-pro|*bʰleh₃-ōs|t=blossoming]], which came to mean “flower”.^(de Vaan 2008) He compares [[osc|fluusaí]], the goddess Flora, and [[sga|bláth|t=flower, bloom]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It appears first in Cicero and Catullus.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) In the ''De officiis'' Cicero writes that all pretence soon falls away like little flowers,^(Lewis & Short 1879) and Catullus addresses someone as the “little flower” of the Juventii (''o qui flosculus es Iuventiorum'').^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Lewis and Short call it rare but classical.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Literally it is a little flower;^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Columella uses it of the remains of the blossom on a fruit.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Figuratively it is the best or the pride of something, as in Catullus, and Juvenal uses ''flosculus vitae'' for youth.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) In rhetoric it is a flower of speech, an ornament of style: Cicero speaks of plucking such flowers from everywhere, and Quintilian warns young speakers against them.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(OLD 2012) Seneca uses it of a choice excerpt or maxim taken from an author.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Apuleius has it of a gleam of colour.^(OLD 2012) A feminine ''floscula'' and a neuter form also occur.^(TLL)^(Lewis & Short 1879) In Ecclesiastical Latin it can also mean a tuft or tassel.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero compares pretence to little flowers that soon fall.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus addresses someone as the flower of the Juventii.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of choice excerpts from writers.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it of the ornaments of style.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A little [[m|en|flower]], [[m|en|floweret]]; the remains of the blossom on a fruit.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # A bright flash or gleam (of colour).^(OLD 2012)

+ # The best or [[m|en|pride]] of something, the “flower”; the prime of life.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # A short choice [[m|en|excerpt]] or maxim from a writer.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(rhetoric)'' An [[m|en|embellishment]] of style, a flower of speech.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(Ecclesiastical Latin)'' A [[m|en|tuft]], [[m|en|tassel]].^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[flōsculē]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}