bipalium Latin · revision 36231

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=234–149 BC, Cato|origins=la bis, la pāla}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [bɪˈpaː.li.ũː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [biˈpaː.li.um]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''bipālium''' ''n'' (genitive bipāliī or bipālī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|bi-|pāla|-ium|t1=two, double|t2=spade]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(TLL) Georges compares [[m|la|bisellium|t=seat for two]], formed in the same way from [[m|la|sella|t=seat]].^(Georges 1913) De Vaan lists [[m|la|pāla|t=long-handled spade]] among the derivatives of [[m|la|pangō|t=to fasten, fix]] and derives it from an instrument noun [[itc-pro|*pāg-slo-|t=spade, pole]]; the verb goes back to [[ine-pro|*ph₂-n-ǵ-|t=to attach]].^(de Vaan 2008) Cognate with [[grc|πήγνυμι|tr=pḗgnumi|t=to fix, join]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLL's earliest citations are from Cato's farm manual, which says that a place should be worked with the double spade so that the soil is soft, and tells the farmer to turn the earth with it.^(TLL)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It was a farm tool for deep digging or trenching, a double spade or mattock.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Varro, Columella and Pliny the Elder use it in the same phrases as Cato, of breaking up ground or new land with it.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(TLL)^(Georges 1913) By metonymy it also meant the depth of such digging, two spits deep: Columella has soil dug to a double spade's depth, and Pliny ground trenched three feet deep with a deep bipalium.^(Georges 1913)^(Lewis & Short 1879) An ancient glossary explains it as an iron farm tool.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of turning the earth.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro uses it in his work on farming.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1st century AD – Columella uses it of soil dug to a double spade's depth.^(Georges 1913)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of deep trenching.^(Georges 1913)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A double [[m|en|spade]] or [[m|en|mattock]], for digging deep or [[m|en|trenching]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # (by metonymy) The depth of a double spit.^(Georges 1913)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[pāla]]

+ * [[bis]]

+ * [[pangō]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}