callum Latin · revision 35693

+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|formation=inherited|attested=c. 235–200 BC, Naevius|origins=itc-pro *kaln/so-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈkal.lũː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈkal.lum]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''callum''' ''n'' (genitive callī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+ A masculine ''callus, -ī'' is found in Naevius and Celsus, and the plural is always masculine, ''callī''.^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The Indo-European origin is uncertain.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) De Vaan's reconstruction is [[inh|itc-pro|*kaln/so-|t=hard]], originally an adjective “hard”, which would explain the shifting gender and the formation of [[calleo|alt=calleō]].^(de Vaan 2008) This agrees with [[cel-pro|*kaletos|t=hard]],^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) the source of [[sga|calath|t=hard]] and [[cy|caled|t=hard]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012) Hamp reconstructs [[ine-pro|*kHl-no-]],^(de Vaan 2008) and Wiktionary and Köbler give a root [[m|ine-pro|*kal-|t=hard]].^(Wiktionary)^(Köbler 2010) Wiktionary also compares [[cu|калити|tr=kaliti|t=to harden, cool]].^(Wiktionary) The OLD and the TLL further compare a Sanskrit word for a callus.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found in Naevius,^(de Vaan 2008) and Plautus already uses it for the tough flesh of meat: ''quanta pernis pestis veniet, quanta callo calamitas'', “what a plague will come on the hams, what a disaster on the tough meat”.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The basic sense is a hard substance: the firm flesh of animals, fruit and fungi (Pliny the Elder praises a grape for it) and even a hard knot in wood.^(OLD 2012) Lucretius uses it for thick skin or hide, saying that nearly all things are covered ''aut corio … aut conchis aut callo aut cortice'', “with leather, shells, hide or bark”.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ In medicine, from Celsus on, it is a [[m|en|callus]] or a hardened scar on the body.^(OLD 2012) Figuratively, ''callum obducere'' meant to make someone insensitive: Cicero writes that daily habit has already drawn a callus over his stomach (''consuetudo diurna callum iam obduxit stomacho meo'').^(OLD 2012) Wiktionary also gives the senses “hard crust of soil” and, figuratively, “hardness, insensibility, stupidity”.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 235–200 BC – Naevius uses the word.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it for the tough flesh of meat.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it for thick skin or hide.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it figuratively for insensitivity.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 14–37 AD – Celsus uses the masculine ''callus'' for a callus.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A hard substance: the firm flesh of animals, fruit or fungi.^(OLD 2012)

+ # Thick, tough skin, [[m|en|hide]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # A [[m|en|callus]], a hardening or hard [[m|en|scar]] on the body.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(figurative)'' Insensitivity, [[m|en|callousness]], especially in ''callum obducere'', to make insensitive.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[calleō]]

+ * [[callōsus]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[callōsitās]]

+ * [[callidus]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}