baculum Latin · revision 659

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈba.kʊ.ɫũː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈbaː.ku.lum]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''baculum''' ''n'' (genitive baculī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It goes back to [[itc-pro|*bak-(k)elo-]].^(de Vaan 2008) De Vaan notes that several languages have words in *bak- for a staff or peg: [[sga|bacc|t=hook, crooked staff]], [[cy|bach]], [[grc|βάκτρον|tr=báktron|t=stick, staff]] and Germanic words such as [[enm|pegge|t=peg]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) Since *b was very rare in Proto-Indo-European and the Celtic forms have an unexplained double consonant, he takes them all to be borrowings from an unidentified source.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) Pokorny and Köbler set up a root [[ine-pro|*bak-|t=staff]].^(Pokorny 1959)^(Köbler 2010) Older dictionaries derived it from the root of [[grc|βαίνω|tr=baínō|t=to go]], as a stick for walking.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan and Köbler date it from Cicero onwards.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) In the ''Verrines'' Cicero uses it of a [[m|en|lictor]]'s rod, turned round to beat a man in the eyes.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Its basic sense was a [[m|en|staff]] or walking stick, unlike ''[[scipio]]'', a staff carried for show, and ''[[fustis]]'', a stick for beating, although later writers used it for all of these.^(Lewis & Short 1879) It named the augur's crooked staff, the [[lituus]],^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) and a king's [[m|en|sceptre]], including the sceptre of a stage king.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) With ''pera'' “wallet” it was the badge of the Cynic philosophers.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Gaffiot 2016) A masculine form ''baculus'' appears from Augustan times.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(TLL)

+

+ In the Vulgate the staff became a figure of support,^(Gaffiot 2016) and Ecclesiastical Latin used it for a crook or rod.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it for a lictor's rod.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it for the augur's staff and for the stick with which Tarquin struck off poppy heads.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid has the masculine ''baculus''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius mentions the sceptre of a stage king.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses ''baculus'' for a pilgrim's staff and, figuratively, for a support.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|staff]], walking stick.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # A [[m|en|lictor]]'s rod.^(OLD 2012)

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

+ # The augur's crooked staff, the [[lituus]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(Ecclesiastical Latin)'' A rod, crook; figuratively, a support.^(Stelten 1995)^(Gaffiot 2016)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[bacillum]]

+ * [[bacillus]]

+ * [[baculāris]]

+ * [[imbēcillus]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The diminutive ''[[bacillum]]'' “little stick” gave the New Latin ''[[bacillus]]'', and ''[[imbecillus]]'' “weak” was explained already in ancient scholia as “without a staff”.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}