lingula Latin · revision 36358

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=derivation|attested=c. 235–200 BC, Naevius|origins=la lingua}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈlɪŋ.ɡʊ.ɫa]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈliŋ.ɡu.la]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''lingula''' ''f'' (genitive lingulae); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+ It is also spelled ⟨ligula⟩, the form the OLD and Georges use as their head.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913) Martial condemns ⟨lingula⟩ in the sense of a spoon.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a diminutive, [[der|la|lingua|t=tongue]].^(TLL)^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) The OLD sees in it partly the diminutive of the noun and partly the stem ⟨lig-⟩ of [[m|la|lingō|t=to lick]] with the suffix ⟨-ula⟩, and Wiktionary allows some influence from that verb.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) Ancient grammarians derived ⟨ligula⟩, the shoe strap, from [[m|la|ligō#1|t=to bind]].^(TLL)^(Georges 1913) The noun for tongue goes back to [[itc-pro|*dn̥χ(u)wā-]] and [[ine-pro|*dnǵh-uh₂|t=tongue]], with its ⟨l-⟩ taken over from the verb for licking.^(de Vaan 2008) Cognate with [[osc|fangvam|t=tongue]], [[sga|tengae]], [[sa|जिह्वा|tr=jihvā-]] and [[goh|zunga]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan dates it from Naevius,^(de Vaan 2008) whose line ''ne mihi gerere morem videar lingua, verum lingula'', quoted by Varro and Gellius, plays on the two words;^(TLL)^(OLD 2012) Gellius explains that the old writers called a small oblong sword shaped like a tongue ''lingula''.^(TLL)^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Most of its senses are tongue-shaped things.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913) Cato uses it of a part of a press and of the spoon served with a sweet cake, and Columella and Pliny the Elder of a spoon for skimming or ladling;^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913) Columella and Scribonius Largus also use it as a measure, a spoonful.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913) It named the flap of a shoe, in Ovid, Martial and Juvenal,^(OLD 2012) and Caesar describes towns set on the tips of spits of land and headlands.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913) Columella uses it of a tenon at the top of a post, Vitruvius of the short arm of a lever, Pliny the Elder of the vibrating reed of a pipe, and Apuleius of the blade of a strigil and of the tentacles of cuttlefish.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913) Plautus uses it once as a term of abuse whose sense is uncertain.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ British medieval writers used it for a little tongue and for the gullet, for a strip of land, and for the clapper of a bell, the tongue of a balance, the pin of a brooch or buckle and the tails of a banner.^(DMLBS) The form ⟨ligula⟩ survives in Spanish and Portuguese ⟨legra⟩.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 235–200 BC – Naevius uses it of a small sword.^(de Vaan 2008)^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of part of a press and of a spoon.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it of spits of land.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of the short arm of a lever.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1237 – An English charter uses it of a strip of land.^(DMLBS)

+ * 1533 – Bath churchwardens' accounts use it of a bell clapper.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A kind of [[m|en|spoon]]; a spoonful, as a measure.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)

+ # A tongue-shaped projection or flap, especially the flap of a [[m|en|shoe]].^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)

+ # A [[m|en|spit]] of land.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016)

+ # A [[m|en|tenon]]; the short arm of a [[m|en|lever]].^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)

+ # The [[m|en|reed]] of a pipe; the sounding end of an organ pipe.^(OLD 2012)

+ # The blade of a [[m|en|strigil]]; the tentacle of a cuttlefish.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016)

+ # A short [[m|en|sword]].^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)

+ # A term of abuse of uncertain sense.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A little tongue; a strip of land; a bell clapper, the tongue of a balance, the pin of a buckle, the tail of a banner.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[lingulātus]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}