cistula

English

Etymology

From Latin cistula.

Noun

cistula (plural cistulae)

1. A little box or chest.
   • 1829, The London Encyclopaedia, page 264:

     Let us now, however, point out how to make a catoptric cistula to represent the objects within it prodigiously multiplied, and diffused through a vast space.

Latin

Etymology

From cista (“a trunk, a chest, a casket”) +‎ -ula (diminutive suffix).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈkis.tu.la/, [ˈkɪs̠t̪ʊɫ̪ä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃis.tu.la/, [ˈt͡ʃist̪ulä]

Noun

cistula f (genitive cistulae); first declension

1. a basket
   • c. 190 BCE – 185 BCE, Plautus, Amphitryon :

     Ubi patera nunc est? —In cistulā.

     Where is the dish now? —In the basket.

2. diminutive of cista: a small chest

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	cistula	cistulae
genitive	cistulae	cistulārum
dative	cistulae	cistulīs
accusative	cistulam	cistulās
ablative	cistulā	cistulīs
vocative	cistula	cistulae

Derived terms

• cistella

References

• “cistula”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• "cistula", 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)
• cistula in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.