tragula

English

Noun

tragula (plural tragulae or tragulas)

1. A type of javelin, used in ancient Sparta, attached to the thrower's wrist by a rope

Italian

Noun

tragula f (plural tragule)

1. tragula

Related terms

• tragulario

Latin

FWOTD – 25 October 2021

Etymology

By surface analysis, trahō (“I drag”) +‎ -ula. For the long ā, compare the formations of rēgula, tēgula and sēcula. For potential cognates, see Proto-Indo-European *dʰregʰ-; the reconstruction of this root is disputed.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈtraː.ɡu.la/, [ˈt̪räːɡʊɫ̪ä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈtra.ɡu.la/, [ˈt̪räːɡulä]

Noun

trāgula f (genitive trāgulae); first declension

1. a javelin or dart having a throwing-strap (āmentum)
2. dragnet, trawl
   • c. 77 CE – 79 CE, Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia 16.XIII.34:

     suberi minima arbor, glans pessima, rara, cortex tantum in fructu, praecrassus ac renascens atque etiam in denos pedes undique explanatus. usus eius ancoralibus maxime navium piscantiumque tragulis et cadorum obturamentis, praeterea in hiberno feminarum calceatu. quamobrem non infacete Graeci corticis arborem appellant. sunt et qui feminam ilicem vocent atque, ubi non nascitur ilex, pro ea subere utantur in carpentariis praecipue fabricis, ut circa Elim et Lacedaemonem. nec in Italia tota nascitur aut in Gallia omnino.

     • Translation by Rackham, Jones, & Eichholz

       The cork is a very small tree, and its acorns are very bad in quality and few in number; its only useful product is its bark, which is extremely thick and which when cut grows again; when flattened out it has been known to form a sheet as big as 10 feet square. This bark is used chiefly for ships' anchor drag-ropes and fishermen's dragnets and for the bungs of casks, and also to make soles for women's winter shoes. Consequently the Greek name for the tree is 'bark-tree,' which is not inappropriate. Some people also call it the female holm-oak, and in places where the holm-oak does not grow, for instance in the districts of Elis and Sparta, use cork-tree timber instead of holm-oak, especially for wain-wright's carpentry. It does not grow all over Italy or anywhere in Gaul.

3. a drag or sledge used in agriculture

   Synonym: traha

   • a. 27 BCE, Marcus Terentius Varro, De lingua latina V.XXXI.139:

     Quibus conportatur fructus ac necessariae res: de his fiscina a ferendo dicta. Corbes ab eo quod eo spicas aliudve quid corruebant; hinc minores corbulae dictae. De his quae iumenta ducunt, tragula, quod ab eo trahitur per terram; sirpea, quae virgis sirpatur, id est colligando implicatur, in qua stercus aliudve quid vehitur.

     • Translation by Wiktionary

       As thereby fruits and necessities are carried, a punnet gets its name from carrying. A basket from the circumstance that it is plant-heads or similar fitted together; hence smaller are said basketlets. From this what draught animals drag we have the drag, for by it it drags over the earth; a wicker-basket one that is bound from wicker, that is folded by tying, sharn or the like being held therein.

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	trāgula	trāgulae
genitive	trāgulae	trāgulārum
dative	trāgulae	trāgulīs
accusative	trāgulam	trāgulās
ablative	trāgulā	trāgulīs
vocative	trāgula	trāgulae

Descendants

• → Ancient Greek: δράγλη (dráglē)
• Catalan: tralla
• Dalmatian: tragala
• French: traille
  • → Italian: traglia
• Galician: tralla
• Italian: tragula
• Old Occitan: traio, dralho
  • → French: draille
    • → Italian: draglia
• Portuguese: tralha, trelha
• Spanish: tralla, → trágula
• ⇒ Vulgar Latin: *tragella
  • Catalan: tragella
  • Spanish: traílla

Further reading

• “tragula”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “tragula”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• tragula in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “tragula”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers