culcita Latin · revision 750

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈkʊɫ.kɪ.ta]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈkul̠ʲ.t͡ʃi.ta]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''culcita''' ''f'' (genitive culcitae); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ There is no accepted etymology.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) The comparison with [[sa|कूर्च|tr=kūrcá-|t=bunch of grass]], made by the OLD and Pokorny, is rejected by de Vaan,^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012)^(Pokorny 1959) and Wiktionary lists other proposals, such as a link with [[grc|κόλπος|tr=kólpos|t=bosom]].^(Wiktionary) Varro and Festus derived it from [[calco|alt=calcāre]] or [[inculco|alt=inculcāre]] “to tread, stuff in”, because the stuffing was pressed into it.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(TLL)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is found from Plautus onwards.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) Plautus uses it in a joke about a sword: ''gladium faciam culcitam'' “I will make the sword my mattress”, meaning “I will fall on it”.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Gaffiot 2016)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Its sense was a sack stuffed with feathers, wool or hair to lie on, a [[m|en|mattress]] or [[m|en|cushion]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Cato lists it in the furnishings of a farm, and Cicero and Varro mention the ''culcita plumea'', a feather bed.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Gaffiot 2016) A spelling ''culcitra'' appears in Petronius and in manuscripts.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)

+

+ In medieval Latin it came to mean a blanket, coverlet or [[m|en|quilt]],^(Niermeyer 1976)^(MLW) the sense of its Old French descendant ''cuilte'', from which English took [[en|quilt]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato lists mattresses among farm equipment.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero mentions a feather bed.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * Middle Ages – It means a coverlet or quilt.^(Niermeyer 1976)^(MLW)

+ * c. 1300 – English borrows the Old French descendant as [[en|quilt]], first meaning a stuffed mattress.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A stuffed [[m|en|mattress]] or [[m|en|cushion]] for a bed or couch.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # A small pad for the eye.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A blanket, coverlet, [[m|en|quilt]].^(Niermeyer 1976)^(MLW)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[culcitarius]]

+ * [[culcitula]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|quilt]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}