pessulus Latin · revision 35843

+ {{infobox|confidence=disputed|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=grc πάσσαλος}}

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''pessulus''' ''m'' (genitive pessulī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+ A neuter plural ⟨pessula⟩ occurs in Paulinus of Nola.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Conte 2010)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is usually taken as [[bor|grc|πάσσαλος|tr=pássalos|t=peg, nail]], adapted.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)^(Wiktionary) The TLL objects that the vowel ⟨e⟩ and the meaning do not fit well; the word has the shape of a diminutive, but the possible base [[m|la|pessus|t=pessary]] is not found before Celsus.^(TLL) The Greek word is traced to [[ine-pro|*peh₂ǵ-]], the root of [[m|la|pangō|t=to fix]].^(Wiktionary)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is found first in Plautus, as the bolt of a door: in the ''Aulularia'' a door is to be shut with both bolts, and in the ''Curculio'' a character greets the bolts.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Conte 2010)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It always named the bolt of a door.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Terence uses ''pessulum ostiō obdere'', “to shoot the bolt of the door”, and Apuleius ''pessulōs inicere'', “to push the bolts home”.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) Lewis and Short call it ante- and post-classical.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Döderlein counts ''pessulī'', with ''repāgula'' and ''obicēs'', among bars that take the place of bolts, ''pessulus'' being a smaller bar for doors.^(Döderlein 1874) The Vulgate has the bride opening the bolt of her door to her beloved in the Song of Songs,^(Lewis & Short 1879) and in Ecclesiastical Latin it means the bolt of a door.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of the bolts of a door.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 190–159 BC – Terence has the phrase ''pessulum obdere''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius has ''pessulōs inicere''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it in the Song of Songs.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The [[m|en|bolt]] of a [[m|en|door]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[oppessulō]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ A separate ''pessulus'', a diminutive of [[m|la|pessus]], is a small [[m|en|pessary]] in Caelius Aurelianus.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}