puella Latin · revision 9971

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

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

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

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

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''puella''' ''f'' (genitive puellae, masculine puellus); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+ A dative and ablative plural ''puellābus'' is reported from the historian Gnaeus Gellius.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is the feminine of [[m|la|puellus|t=little boy]], itself contracted from [[m|la|puerulus]], a diminutive of [[m|la|puer|t=boy]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) De Vaan explains it as from ⟨*puere-la⟩ “little girl”.^(de Vaan 2008) ⟨puer⟩ is [[inh|itc-pro|*puwero-]], which he traces to [[ine-pro|*ph₂u-ero-|t=smaller]], though he notes that this would rather have given ⟨*pawero-⟩, so ⟨puer⟩ may have been built later to the Proto-Italic root ⟨*pau-, *pū̆-⟩ “small, young”.^(de Vaan 2008) Köbler connects it with [[ine-pro|*pōu-|t=small, young]] (Pokorny 842).^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan and the OLD have it from Plautus, “girl”.^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012) Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Its basic sense is a female child, a girl; from Plautus it is also a young woman, married or not, and in Horace and the love poets a girl as an object of love, a sweetheart, and Terence uses it of a slave girl.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016)

+

+ In Ecclesiastical Latin it means girl, maiden.^(Stelten 1995) Medieval Latin used it for a maidservant, a female slave, and in ''puella Deī'' for a nun.^(Niermeyer 1976) In British Medieval Latin ''castrum puellārum'' was Edinburgh.^(DMLBS) English ''puella'' is a learned borrowing.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a girl and of a young woman.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 190–159 BC – Terence uses it of a slave girl.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of a girl as an object of love.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A female child, [[m|en|girl]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # A young woman, married or unmarried.^(OLD 2012)

+ # A [[m|en|sweetheart]], a girl loved.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016)

+ # A slave girl.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A [[m|en|maidservant]], ''puella Deī'', a [[m|en|nun]].^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[puellāris]]

+ * [[puellarius]]

+ * [[puellascō]]

+ * [[puellatorius]]

+ * [[puellitor]]

+ * [[puellula]]

+ * [[semipuella]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[puer]]

+ * [[puera]]

+ * [[puerīlis]]

+ * [[puerīliter]]

+ * [[puellus]]

+ * [[pūbēs]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Isidore of Seville explained ''puella'' as ''parvula'', “little one”, “as if ''pulla''”.^(Isidore)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}