acutulus
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Latin[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
- (Classical) IPA(key): /aˈkuː.tu.lus/, [äˈkuːt̪ʊɫ̪ʊs̠]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /aˈku.tu.lus/, [äˈkuːt̪ulus]
Adjective[edit]
acūtulus (feminine acūtula, neuter acūtulum, adverb acūtule); first/second-declension adjective
- Diminutive of acūtus (“sharp, acute, subtle”)
- 45 BCE, Cicero, De Natura Deorum 3.18.7:
- Zenonisque brevīs et acutulas conclusiones in eam partem sermonis quam modo dixi differemus
- 1896 translation by Francis Brooks
- and the syllogisms of Zeno, with their conciseness and petty ingenuity, will be deferred to that part of the discourse which I have just mentioned
- 1896 translation by Francis Brooks
- Zenonisque brevīs et acutulas conclusiones in eam partem sermonis quam modo dixi differemus
- c. 177 CE, Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticae 17.5.3.3:
- rhetoricus quidam sophista utriusque linguae callens, haut sane ignobilis ex istis acutulis et minutis doctoribus, qui τεχνικοί appellantur
Usage notes[edit]
The difference in meaning between the diminutive and the base adjective is disputed: Lewis and Short defines it as "somewhat pointed, acute, or subtile", i.e. as "acūtus to a small extent" or "possessing a small amount of the quality described by the word acūtus", but Petersen argues that this reading of the word as a "diminutive of quality" is incorrect, and that the diminutive instead either expresses the smallness of the modified noun,[1] or has a "deteriorative" sense (serving to express a negative shade of emotion such as contempt) relative to the original adjective[2]
Declension[edit]
First/second-declension adjective.
Number | Singular | Plural | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Case / Gender | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | |
Nominative | acūtulus | acūtula | acūtulum | acūtulī | acūtulae | acūtula | |
Genitive | acūtulī | acūtulae | acūtulī | acūtulōrum | acūtulārum | acūtulōrum | |
Dative | acūtulō | acūtulō | acūtulīs | ||||
Accusative | acūtulum | acūtulam | acūtulum | acūtulōs | acūtulās | acūtula | |
Ablative | acūtulō | acūtulā | acūtulō | acūtulīs | |||
Vocative | acūtule | acūtula | acūtulum | acūtulī | acūtulae | acūtula |
References[edit]
Further reading[edit]
- “acutulus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “acutulus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers