culcita

Latin

Alternative forms

• culcitra

Etymology

Of uncertain origin; proposed derivations include:

• According to Varro, from calcō (“I trample”).
• From Proto-Indo-European *qu̯el-. Cognates include Ancient Greek κόλπος (kólpos, “bosom”).
• From Proto-Indo-European *ḱol-bʰo-, like English half.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈkul.ki.ta/, [ˈkʊɫ̪kɪt̪ä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈkul.t͡ʃi.ta/, [ˈkul̠ʲt͡ʃit̪ä]

Noun

culcita f (genitive culcitae); first declension

1. mattress, pillow, cushion

   • C. Suetonius Tranquillus, Nero Ch. 48:

     quadripes per angustias cauernae in proximam cellam decubuit super lectum modica culcita

     (having crept) on all fours through a narrow hole to the adjacent room, (he) lay down over a bed's miserable mattress

Declension

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	culcita	culcitae
Genitive	culcitae	culcitārum
Dative	culcitae	culcitīs
Accusative	culcitam	culcitās
Ablative	culcitā	culcitīs
Vocative	culcita	culcitae

Descendants

• Italian: coltrice
• Old French: coilte, cuilte, coite
  • Anglo-Norman: quilte
    • English: quilt, quoit
  • French: couette
• Portuguese: colcha
• Spanish: colcha
• Welsh: cylched

References

• “culcita”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “culcita”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• culcita in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• culcita in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “culcita”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “culcita”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin