abaculus

English

Etymology

From Latin abaculus, diminutive of abacus.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /əˈbæk.jə.ləs/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ækjʊləs

Noun

abaculus (plural abaculi)

1. (archaic) A small tile of glass, marble, or other substance, of various colors, used in making ornamental patterns in mosaic pavements; abaciscus.

Translations

a small tile

• Dutch: mozaïekelement n
• French: abacule (fr)
• Greek:

  Ancient: ἀβακίσκος m (abakískos)

• Occitan: abacul m
• Portuguese: abáculo (pt) m, abacísculo m
• Spanish: abáculo (es)

Latin

Etymology

From abacus (“a square board, tablet, panel”) +‎ -ulus (diminutive suffix), from Ancient Greek ἄβαξ (ábax, “board”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /aˈba.ku.lus/, [äˈbäkʊɫ̪ʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /aˈba.ku.lus/, [äˈbäːkulus]

Noun

abaculus m (genitive abaculī); second declension

1. Diminutive of abacus (“square tablet, panel”): abaculus
   • c. 77 CE – 79 CE, Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia 36.67:

     Tingit ars, veluti cum calculi fiunt, quos quidam abaculos appellant, aliquos etiam pluribus modis versicolores.

     The craft dyes, like they are made of tiles, those which are called abaculi, some of which are made varicolored in many ways.

Declension

Second-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	abaculus	abaculī
Genitive	abaculī	abaculōrum
Dative	abaculō	abaculīs
Accusative	abaculum	abaculōs
Ablative	abaculō	abaculīs
Vocative	abacule	abaculī

Descendants

• → English: abaculus
• → French: abacule
• → Portuguese: abáculo

References

• “abaculus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• abaculus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “abaculus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “abaculus”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin