masculus Latin · revision 7407
16 Oct 2026, 13:52 by bogdan “New Latin entry (sources: de Vaan, OLD, Lewis & Short, TLL...)”
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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=Plautus|origins=la mās}}
+
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈmas.kʊ.ɫʊs]^(Wiktionary)
+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈmas.ku.lus]^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Forms==
+ '''masculus''' (feminine mascula, neuter masculum); first/second-declension adjective^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Etymology==
+ It is a diminutive of [[mās]] “male” with the suffix [[-culus]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Late texts have a form ⟨mascel⟩.^(TLL)
+
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ Köbler's first source is Plautus, whom he dates c. 250–184 BC, and Lewis and Short cite Plautus' ''bona fēmina et malus masculus'' “a good woman and a bad male”.^(Köbler 2010)^(Lewis & Short 1879)
+
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ It meant male, masculine, as in Livy and Pliny, and as a noun a male person or animal, and Lewis and Short note it is not in Cicero or Caesar.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Gaffiot 2016) It meant manly, virile, as in Varro and Horace.^(OLD 2012) Pliny applies it to the larger or coarser kinds of plants and natural products, and Virgil has ''mascula tūra'' “male frankincense”.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016) In Vitruvius' engineering it was the male part of a joint.^(OLD 2012)
+
+ British Medieval Latin used it of male offspring.^(DMLBS) It survives in Spanish and Portuguese ''macho'' and Italian ''maschio'', and through Old French ''masle'' it gave [[en|male]] in the late 14th century.^(Wiktionary)^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Timeline==
+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a male.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of the manly.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil has ''mascula tūra''.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * late 14th century – English ''male'' is recorded.^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Meanings==
+ ===Adjective===
+ # [[m|en|Male]], masculine.^(OLD 2012)
+ # Manly, [[m|en|virile]].^(OLD 2012)
+ # Of plants, of the larger or coarser kind.^(OLD 2012)
+ # ''(engineering)'' Male.^(OLD 2012)
+
+ ===Noun===
+ # A male.^(OLD 2012)
+
+ ==Word family==
+ * [[masculescō]]
+ * [[masculētum]]
+ * [[masculīnus]]
+ * [[masculofemina]]
+ * [[semimasculus]]
+ * [[commasculō]]
+ * [[ēmasculō]]
+
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[mās]]
+ * [[en|male]]
+ * [[en|masculine]]
+
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}