scintilla Latin · revision 686

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [skɪnˈtɪl.la]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ʃinˈtil.la]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''scintilla''' ''f'' (genitive scintillae); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The origin is not clear.^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012) Pokorny connected it with the root [[ine-pro|*skeh₁y-|t=to shine]], the source of [[en|shine]], perhaps through *ski-nto-; de Vaan notes that the suffix may be a diminutive, but the stem *scint- cannot be explained, and asks whether it is derived somehow from [[scindo|alt=scindere]] “to split”.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Pokorny 1959)^(Wiktionary)^(Etymonline) Lewis and Short compared [[grc|σπινθήρ|tr=spinthḗr|t=spark]].^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is found from Plautus onwards,^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) who warns a spendthrift that he will not leave “even a [[m|en|spark]]” of his family to rekindle it.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It meant a spark of fire, as in Lucretius' observation that from one spark fires spread everywhere and Virgil's struck from flint.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) Figuratively it meant a small thing from which something bigger can grow, as in Cicero's ''scintilla belli'' “a spark of war”, and a faint trace, as in ''scintilla ingenii'' “a spark of talent”.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Pliny the Elder used it for glittering specks in metals and minerals.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ Its Romance descendants include Spanish ''centella'' and Old French ''estencele'',^(Wiktionary) the source of [[en|tinsel]].^(Etymonline) English borrowed ''scintilla'' itself in the 1690s for a trace or least particle.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it figuratively of a family's last spark.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 96–55 BC – Lucretius writes of fires spreading from one spark.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses ''scintilla belli'' and ''scintilla ingenii''.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it for glittering specks in gold ore.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * mid-15th century – Old French ''estencele'' gives [[en|tinsel]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

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

+ # ''(figurative)'' A spark from which something grows; a faint trace.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # A glittering speck.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[scintillō]]

+ * [[scintillula]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|scintilla]]

+ * [[en|scintillate]]

+ * [[en|tinsel]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}