culullus

Latin

FWOTD – 1 November 2018

Alternative forms

culūlus, culillus

Etymology

Borrowed from Classical Syriac ܩܽܘܠܬܳܐ (qulləṯā), deriving from Akkadian 𒄣𒇷𒌋 (qulliu, “a bowl”), older Akkadian 𒄖𒌌𒇻 (gullu, “a container”), also Akkadian 𒄖𒌌𒆷𒌅 (gullatu, “ewer”). Doublet of gaulus (“a kind of vessel”) and of collathum (“a unit of liquid measure used in Syria”) via Ancient Greek κόλλαθον (kóllathon, “a unit of liquid measure used in Syria”) from the same word (reborrowed as Classical Syriac ܩܘܠܐܬܘܢ / ܩܘܠܬܘܢ (“a unit of liquid measure”)). Also found as Jewish Palestinian Aramaic, Jewish Literary Aramaic, Jewish Babylonian Aramaic קוּלְתָא (qulləṯā), Biblical Hebrew גֻלָּה (gullāh), Ugaritic 𐎂𐎍 (gl), Eblaite 𒄘𒇷𒈝 (GÚ-LI-LUM), Arabic قُلَّة (qulla). Note that because of each locus being transmitted in all variants the exact form of the Latin cannot be known with certainty, but the meter in the Art of Poetry requires the /l/ between the first and second syllable to be ungeminated, against the Aramaic etymon and manuscripts that give ⟨ll⟩ variants. The quotes that follow on this page comprise all occurrences that are attested from antiquity, that is two Horace loci with a Syria frame and a commentary to one of it with scholia. However, the word has been picked up in its variants in the Renaissance.

Pronunciation

(Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /kuˈlul.lus/, [kʊˈɫ̪ʊlːʲʊs̠]
(modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /kuˈlul.lus/, [kuˈlulːus]

Noun

culullus m (genitive culullī); second declension

wine jug, ewer, pitcher, jar, bumper, chalice, goblet, beaker
- c. 19 BCE, Horace, Ars Poetica 434–436:
  reges dicuntur multis urgere culullis
  et torquere mero, quem perspexisse laborent,
  an sit amicitia dignus.
  Kings are said to ply with many bumpers and test with unmixed wine whom to deem worthy of their friendship.
- 23 BCE – 13 BCE, Horace, Odes I.31.9–13:
  premant Calena falce quibus dedit
  Fortuna vitem, dives ut aureis
  mercator exsiccet culullis
  vina Syra reparata merce
  Those to whom Fortuna has given it shall trim the vine with the Calenian pruning-knife so that the rich trader may drain from golden jugs the wine for which he barters Syrian wares
- ?, Pseudo-Acro, Commentarii in Q. Horatium Flaccum, in Carmen I.31.11:
  Culillis. Poculis; proprie autem culilli calices dicuntur fictiles, quibus pontifices virgines Vestales utebantur. Hic autem pro urceolis et conchis posuit.
  Bumpers. Beakers; in proper usage bumpers are earthen chalices which the Vestal virgin priests use. Here it is posited for mugs or goblets.

Declension

Second-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	culullus	culullī
genitive	culullī	culullōrum
dative	culullō	culullīs
accusative	culullum	culullōs
ablative	culullō	culullīs
vocative	cululle	culullī

References

“culullus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
culullus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
“qwlh”, in The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1986–
“qwltwn”, in The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1986–
“qulliu”, in The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago (CAD)‎^[1], volume 13, Q, Chicago: University of Chicago Oriental Institute, 1982, pages 297–298
“gullatu, gullu”, in The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago (CAD)‎^[2], volume 5, G, Chicago: University of Chicago Oriental Institute, 1956, page 129
Fraenkel, Siegmund (1886) Die aramäischen Fremdwörter im Arabischen (in German), Leiden: E. J. Brill, pages 170–171
Fraenkel, Siegmund (1880) De vocabulis in antiquis Arabum carminibus et in Corano peregrinis‎^[3] (in Latin), Leiden: E. J. Brill, pages 15–16
Kaufman, Stephen A. (1974) The Akkadian Influences on Aramaic (The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago Assyriological Studies; 19)‎^[4], Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, page 86
Niedermann, Max (1950) “Der Suffixtypus -ullus, -a, -um lateinischer Appellativa”, in Museum Helveticum‎^[5], pages 153–155
Olmo Lete, Gregorio del with Sanmartín, Joaquín and Watson, Wilfred G. E. (2015) “gl (II)”, in A Dictionary of the Ugaritic Language in the Alphabetic Tradition (Handbook of Oriental Studies; 112), 3rd edition, Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 297
“culullus, -ī m., vel cululla, -ae f.” in volume IV, column 1339, line 33–41 in the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae (TLL Open Access), Berlin (formerly Leipzig): De Gruyter (formerly Teubner), 1900–present