acutulus
Latin
editEtymology
editPronunciation
edit- (Classical Latin) IPA(key): /aˈkuː.tu.lus/, [äˈkuːt̪ʊɫ̪ʊs̠]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /aˈku.tu.lus/, [äˈkuːt̪ulus]
Adjective
editacūtulus (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
editThe 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
editFirst/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
editFurther 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