cancellus

English

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Latin cancellus (“little crab”). Doublet of chancel.

Noun

cancellus (plural cancelli)

1. (architecture) A barrier, balustrade or railing, or screen, dividing the main body of a church from the chancel.
2. (anatomy) One of the interlacing osseous plates constituting the elastic porous tissue of certain parts of the bones, especially in their articular extremities.

Latin

FWOTD – 22 August 2021

cancellī

Etymology

Diminutive, from cancer (“crab”) +‎ -lus.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /kanˈkel.lus/, [käŋˈkɛlːʲʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /kanˈt͡ʃel.lus/, [kän̠ʲˈt͡ʃɛlːus]

Noun

cancellus m (genitive cancellī); second declension

1. one of the bars which, in the form of a grid, collectively constitute a door that lets daylight through; the bars were covered by vēla if it was desired to keep the light off – lattice, grate, grid, bars, barrier, railings
   • a. 224, Dig. 30, 1, 41, § 10 Ulpianus libro vicesimo primo ad Sabinum

     Sed si cancelli sint vel vela, legari poterunt, non tamen fistulae vel castelli.

     But while bar-doors or their veils can be legated, not so water-pipes or water-basins.

   • 211–217 Dig. 43, 24, 9, § 1 Ulpianus libro septuagensimo primo ad edictum

     Si tamen sera vel clavis vel cancellus vel specularium sit ablatum, quod vi aut clam agi non poterit.

     But if a door-bar or a key or a pane is carried away, be it by force or stealthily, there is no action [by interdict].

Usage notes

Usually used in the plural to denote such a door.

Declension

Second-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	cancellus	cancellī
Genitive	cancellī	cancellōrum
Dative	cancellō	cancellīs
Accusative	cancellum	cancellōs
Ablative	cancellō	cancellīs
Vocative	cancelle	cancellī

Derived terms

• cancellārius
• cancellō

Descendants

• Catalan: cancell
• Italian: cancello
• Neapolitan: canciello
• Old French: chancel, cancel
  • French: chancel, cancel, chanceau
  • → Breton: kañsell
  • → English: chancel, chauncel
  • → Scottish Gaelic: seansal
  • → Spanish: cancel
• Old Galician-Portuguese:
  • Portuguese: cancela
  • Galician: cancela
    • → Spanish: cancela
• Old Spanish:
  • Spanish: cancilla
• Sicilian: canceḍḍu
• → Byzantine Greek: κάγκελον (kánkelon)
  • Greek: κάγκελο (kágkelo)
  • → Georgian: კანკელი (ḳanḳeli)
• → English: cancellus
• → Old High German: cancella
  • Middle High German: kanzel
    • Alemannic German: Kansel
    • German: Kanzel
      • → Dutch: kansel
        • Afrikaans: kansel
        • → West Frisian: kânsel
      • → Estonian: kantsel
      • → Latvian: kancele
• → Old Irish: caingel
  • Irish: caingeal
• → Welsh: cangell

References

• Gesterding, Franz (1818) Alte und neue Irrthümer der Rechtsgelehrten, Greifswald: Ernst Mauritius, page 365
• “cancellus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• cancellus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• cancellus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.