colus Latin · revision 6070

+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|attested=Plautus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈkɔ.ɫʊs]^(Wiktionary)

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

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''colus''' ''f'' (genitive colī or colūs); variously declined, second declension, fourth declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ De Vaan gives a form [[ine-pro|*kʷelh₁-u-|t=turning]], from the root of [[colō]], though the origin is uncertain.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) It has been compared with [[grc|πόλος|tr=pólos|t=axis, pivot]], which the OLD accepts with doubt, but Walde and Hofmann hesitate because a distaff does not itself turn.^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012) Some have tried to connect it with [[colubra]] “snake”.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan dates it from Plautus, whose character asks whether he was ordered to carry a distaff.^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012) Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It meant a distaff, the staff that holds the wool for spinning, and by metonymy the wool on it.^(OLD 2012) In poetry it was the distaff of the Fates, from which each person's thread of life is spun, as in Propertius.^(OLD 2012) It is declined in both the second and fourth declensions, and is usually feminine, but masculine in Catullus and Propertius.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ In Medieval Latin it was also a symbol of effeminacy and of inheritance in the female line.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 57/46–12 BC – Propertius uses it of the Fates.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|distaff]].^(OLD 2012)

+ # The wool on the distaff.^(OLD 2012)

+ # The distaff of the [[m|en|Fates]].^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[colō]]

+ * [[colubra]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ It is distinct from ''cōlus'', a form of [[cōlon]] “colon”, used by Serenus Sammonicus.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}