asellus

See also: Asellus

Latin

Etymology

From asinus +‎ -lus (diminutive suffix).

Noun

asellus m (genitive asellī); second declension

1. Small or young ass or donkey; diminutive of asinus
   • 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 3.749:

     Utque piger pandī tergō residēbat asellī.

     And as he was sitting lazily upon the back of his sagging little donkey
     (See Silenus.)

Declension

Second-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	asellus	asellī
genitive	asellī	asellōrum
dative	asellō	asellīs
accusative	asellum	asellōs
ablative	asellō	asellīs
vocative	aselle	asellī

Related terms

• asinus

Descendants

• → Old Irish: asal (see there for further descendants)
• → Proto-Slavic: *osьlъ (see there for further descendants)
• → Proto-West Germanic: *asil (see there for further descendants)
• → Gothic: 𐌰𐍃𐌹𐌻𐌿𐍃 (asilus)

References

• “asellus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “asellus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• asellus 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)
• asellus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “asellus”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray