sportula

English

Etymology

Latin sportula (“small basket, by extension a prize”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈspɔː(ɹ)tjʊlə/, /ˈspɔː(ɹ)t͡ʃələ/

Noun

sportula (plural sportulae)

1. (archaic) A gift or prize, especially ones given by rich Romans.
   • 1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London:

     To feed luxuriously, to frequent sports and theatres, to run for the sportula.

References

• “sportula”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• postural, pulsator

Latin

Etymology

Diminutive of sporta (“hamper or basket”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈspɔr.tʊ.ɫa]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈspɔr.tu.la]

Noun

sportula f (genitive sportulae); first declension

1. a small basket or hamper
2. a dole (a daily allocation of food or money, especially as given by patrons to their clients)

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	sportula	sportulae
genitive	sportulae	sportulārum
dative	sportulae	sportulīs
accusative	sportulam	sportulās
ablative	sportulā	sportulīs
vocative	sportula	sportulae

Descendants

• → Byzantine Greek: σπόρτυλον (spórtulon), σπόρτουλον (spórtoulon), σπόρτυλος (spórtulos)
  • → Arabic: بِرْطِيل (birṭīl)
    • → Turkish: bartıl, partıl
  • → Classical Syriac: ܐܣܦܪܛܘܠܐ, ܐܣܦܘܪܛܠܘܢ, ܐܣܦܘܪܛܘܠܘܢ
• → English: sportule, sportula
• → French: sportule
• → German: Sportel
  • → Danish: sportel
    • → Norwegian: sportel
  • → Swedish: sportel
    • → Finnish: sportteli
• → Portuguese: espórtula

References

• “sportula” on page 1996 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (2nd ed., 2012)

Further reading

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