commaculo Latin · revision 34557

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=1st century BC, Cicero and Sallust|origins=la macula}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [kɔmˈma.kʊ.ɫoː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [komˈmaː.ku.lo]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''commaculō''' (present infinitive commaculāre, perfect active commaculāvī, supine commaculātum); first conjugation^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|con-|maculō|t2=to stain]].^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Wiktionary) [[m|la|maculō]] is formed from [[m|la|macula|t=spot, stain]], which de Vaan tentatively traces to [[itc-pro|*smatlo-]] and [[ine-pro|*smh₁-tlo-|t=wiping]], comparing [[grc|σμάω|tr=smáō|t=to wipe clean]]; he finds the connection possible, though a stain as a “smearing” is not a compelling semantic link.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Its earliest quotations are in Cicero and Sallust.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL) Cicero uses it of reputation: the TLL quotes ''sī Caelius sē istō īnfīnītō ambitū commaculāsset'', “if Caelius had stained himself with that boundless canvassing”.^(TLL)^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Lewis and Short call it rare but classical.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Literally it means to stain deeply: Virgil has hands stained with the blood of children, and Tacitus altars of the gods stained with a man's own blood.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Statius uses it of ritual pollution.^(OLD 2012) Sallust and Tacitus use the participle of men defiled by crimes, and Sallust has it of sullying oneself by association with Jugurtha.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Valerius Maximus writes of someone who stained a whole village with the name of a crime.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ It lives on in Paulinus of Nola and the Theodosian Code,^(Lewis & Short 1879) and in Ecclesiastical Latin means to stain or pollute.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a stained reputation.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 86–34 BC – Sallust uses it of men defiled by crime.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of hands stained with blood.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of altars stained with blood.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 353–431 AD – Paulinus of Nola uses its participle of blood.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To stain deeply, [[m|en|defile]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # To make ritually unclean, [[m|en|pollute]].^(OLD 2012)

+ # To corrupt morally, [[m|en|contaminate]].^(OLD 2012)

+ # To [[m|en|sully]] (one's own or another's reputation), disgrace.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[maculō]]

+ * [[macula]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}