cultellus Latin · revision 36504

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 100 BC, Sempronius Asellio|origins=la culter}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [kʊɫˈtɛl.lʊs]^(Wiktionary)

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

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''cultellus''' ''m'' (genitive cultellī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|culter|-lus|t1=knife]], a diminutive.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(de Vaan 2008) De Vaan connects [[m|la|culter]] with [[ine-pro|*(s)kolh2/3-tro-|t=instrument for cleaving]], from the root [[m|ine-pro|*(s)kelh2/3-|t=to split, cleave]], but notes that some prefer a dissimilated form of a stem in /r/ from the root [[m|ine-pro|*(s)ker-|t=to shear, cut off]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan and the OLD date it from the historian Sempronius Asellio,^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012) who writes of a shoemaker's knife, ''crepidārium cultellum''.^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Varro uses it,^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010) and Valerius Maximus has the barber's ''cultellus tōnsōrius'', used for paring nails.^(Conte 2010) Vitruvius applies it to wooden pegs driven into reeds to fix them to the rafters.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) The TLL notes that it lives on in the Romance languages: Italian [[m|it|coltello]], French [[m|fr|couteau]] and Spanish [[m|es|cuchillo]].^(TLL) In medieval Latin it is any knife, also a sword or dagger,^(MLW) a knife handed over as a token of seisin,^(DMLBS) and the [[m|en|coulter]] of a plough.^(Niermeyer 1976) Through French it is the source of English [[m|en|cutlery]] and, through Italian, of [[m|en|cutlass]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 100 BC – Sempronius Asellio writes of a shoemaker's knife.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro uses it.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of wooden pegs.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 764 – A letter in the Boniface collection mentions a gift of twenty knives.^(DMLBS)

+ * mid-14th century – English [[m|en|cutlery]] is recorded, from Old French.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A small [[m|en|knife]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # A wooden [[m|en|peg]] or pin used to fasten one thing to another.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A sword or [[m|en|dagger]].^(MLW)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' The [[m|en|coulter]] of a plough.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[culter]]

+ * [[en|cutlery]]

+ * [[en|cutlass]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}