fritillus Latin · revision 36579

+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|formation=onomatopoeia|attested=4 BC–65 AD, Seneca}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

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

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

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''fritillus''' ''m'' (genitive fritillī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The origin is uncertain.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010) The OLD takes it as imitative,^(OLD 2012) and the TLL suggests that the box may have been named after the sound of falling dice, comparing [[m|la|fritinniō|t=to twitter]].^(TLL)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found in Seneca,^(Köbler 2010) whose ''Apocolocyntosis'' speaks of playing at dice ''pertūsō fritillō'', with a dice box full of holes.^(Conte 2010)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is the box from which dice were thrown,^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) mentioned by Martial, Juvenal and Sidonius.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) The ancient commentator Porphyrio, explaining a word in Horace, says that it is what “we” call a ''fritillus'', in which the dice are put, shaken and thrown.^(TLL) In British medieval Latin it is still a dice box, and a glossary also gives it the sense of a pepper mill.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it in the ''Apocolocyntosis''.^(Köbler 2010)^(Conte 2010)

+ * 40–102/103 AD – Martial speaks of shaking the dice box.^(Georges 1913)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 67–c. 127 AD – Juvenal uses it.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 431–486 AD – Sidonius uses it in a letter.^(Georges 1913)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|dice]] box.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A [[m|en|pepper mill]].^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}