malleolus Latin · revision 35815

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=120–67 BC, Sisenna|origins=la malleus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [malˈle.ɔ.ɫʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [malˈlɛː.o.lus]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''malleolus''' ''m'' (genitive malleolī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|malleus|-olus|t1=hammer, mallet]], a diminutive.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) [[m|la|malleus]] goes back to [[itc-pro|*molalo-|t=hammer]] and [[ine-pro|*molH-lo-|t=crushing instrument]], probably from the root for “to grind”; de Vaan, following Schrijver, explains it as an adjective in ⟨-eus⟩ built on such a form.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan dates it from Sisenna,^(de Vaan 2008) whose history describes fire darts and burning bundles of brushwood thrown over a rampart.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Cicero uses it for a hammer-shaped cutting of a tree or vine for planting, the mallet-shoot,^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016) a sense Columella and Pliny the Elder keep,^(Gaffiot 2016) and also for incendiary missiles, as does Livy.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Georges 1913) The literal small hammer or mallet is found in Celsus^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016) and in the Vulgate.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ In medieval Latin it meant a newly planted vineyard, with many spellings such as ''maleolus'' and ''malheolus''.^(Niermeyer 1976) English borrowed it in the 1690s for the bony knob on either side of the ankle, an anatomical use said to go back to Andreas Vesalius.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 120–67 BC – Sisenna mentions fire darts.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it for cuttings for planting and for fire darts.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 14–37 AD – Celsus uses it of a small mallet.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1st century AD – Columella uses it of mallet-shoots.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it of a hammer.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1690s – Borrowed into English for the bone of the ankle.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A small [[m|en|hammer]] or [[m|en|mallet]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # A hammer-shaped [[m|en|cutting]] of a tree or vine for planting, a mallet-shoot.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016)

+ # An [[m|en|incendiary]] missile, a fire dart.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A newly planted [[m|en|vineyard]].^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[commalliolō]]

+ * [[malleolāris]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|malleolus]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}