arbuscula

Latin

FWOTD – 12 July 2022

Etymology

From arbor (“tree”) +‎ -cula (diminutive suffix).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /arˈbus.ku.la/, [ärˈbʊs̠kʊɫ̪ä]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /arˈbus.ku.la/, [ärˈbuskulä]

Noun

arbuscula f (genitive arbusculae); first declension

1. Diminutive of arbor: sapling (small tree), shrub, bush
2. tuft of feathers etc. resembling a bush
3. (rare) wood bored to receive an axle, therefore possibly the nave of a wheel
   • c. 15 BCE, Vitruvius, De architectura 10:

     Haec autem contineantur ab alteris duobus crassi⟨tudini⟩s I s⟨emissisque⟩, lati⟨tudini⟩s s⟨emissisque⟩; distent autem transversaria inter se circiter pedes III s⟨emissemque⟩. Supponanturque in singulis intervallis eorum arbusculae, quae graece amaxopodes dicuntur, in quibus versantur rotarum axes conclusi lamnis ferreis. Eaeque arbusculae ita sint temperatae, ut habeant cardines et foramina, quo vectes traiecti versationes earum expediant, uti ante et post et ad dextrum seu sinistrum latus, sive oblique ad angulos opus fuerit, ad id per arbusculas versatis progredi possint.

     • 1899 translation by Valentin Rose

       These are tied in by two other pieces, one twelfth high, and one half wide, distant from each other – about a foot and a half, and under each of their intervals are placed the naves of wheels, called in Greek ἁμαξόποδες, within which the axles of the wheels turn in iron hoops. The naves are so made that they have holes in their heads, in which the handspikes being received, are made to turn them. The naves thus revolving, it may be moved forward or backward, to the right or left, or diagonally, as wanted.

Declension

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	arbuscula	arbusculae
Genitive	arbusculae	arbusculārum
Dative	arbusculae	arbusculīs
Accusative	arbusculam	arbusculās
Ablative	arbusculā	arbusculīs
Vocative	arbuscula	arbusculae

References

• “arbuscula”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• arbuscula in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette
• “arbuscula”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• arbuscula in Ramminger, Johann (accessed 16 July 2016) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎^[1], pre-publication website, 2005-2016
• “arbuscula”, in William Smith, editor (1848) A Dictionary of Greek Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray