pabulum Latin · revision 6258

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=Plautus|origins=ine-pro *peh₂-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈpaː.bʊ.ɫũː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈpaː.bu.lum]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''pābulum''' ''n'' (genitive pābulī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is from the root of [[pāscō]] “to feed, graze” with the instrumental suffix [[-bulum]], from [[ine-pro|*peh₂-|t=to feed, protect]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The OLD's first citations are from Plautus, of food, and Cato, of fodder.^(OLD 2012) Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It meant the proper food of cattle and horses, fodder, as Cato's preparing of fodder, growing pasture, as Pliny the Elder's deer going out to graze at night, and a fodder crop.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016) Ovid's ''mala pābula'' were magic herbs.^(OLD 2012) It meant food of any creature, sustenance, of men only in poetry, nectar for bees, manure for soil, fuel for fire, and figuratively food for thought or feelings, as in Lucretius.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ In Medieval Latin it meant fodder, and figuratively spiritual food.^(DMLBS) It survives in Italian ''pabbio'' and Romanian ''plaur''.^(Wiktionary) [[en|pabulum]] was borrowed in the 1670s, and [[en|pablum]] is a 1932 trade name.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

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

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of fodder and manure.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it figuratively.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1670s – English ''pabulum'' is recorded.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|Fodder]]; pasture.^(OLD 2012)

+ # [[m|en|Food]], sustenance.^(OLD 2012)

+ # Manure; fuel.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(figurative)'' Food (for thought).^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[pābulāris]]

+ * [[pābulor]]

+ * [[pābulōsus]]

+ * [[pābulārius]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[pābulātiō]]

+ * [[pābulātor]]

+ * [[pābulātōrius]]

+ * [[pāscō]]

+ * [[en|pabulum]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}