tinnunculus

Latin

Alternative forms

titiunculus, tinnungulus, titumglus, titiunglus

Etymology

Possibly from tinniō (“to shriek”, verb) +‎ -unculus (diminutive) if the reading tinn- is correct. Manuscripts show variation in the form of the word. Lindsay 1918 argues that the correct reading is titi- (found in a manuscript of Columella but not of Pliny) and derives the word from an n-stem noun *titiō, titiōn- built on the root of titus (“wood pigeon”), comparing Romance words for woodpigeon descended from *titō, titōn- such as Sardinian tidu, tidone, totoni; Sicilian tuduni, tutuni, Maltese tudun.^[1]

Pronunciation

(Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /tinˈnun.ku.lus/, [t̪ɪnˈnʊŋkʊɫ̪ʊs̠]
(modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /tinˈnun.ku.lus/, [t̪inˈnuŋkulus]

Noun

tinnunculus m (genitive tinnunculī); second declension

(ornithology) kestrel
- 4 CE – c. 70 CE, Columella, De Re Rustica 8.8.7.2:
  Genus accipitris tinnunculum vocant rustici, qui fere in aedificiis nidos facit. Eius pulli singuli fictilibus ollis conduntur, spirantibusque opercula superponuntur, et gypso lita vasa in angulis columbariis suspenduntur: quae res avibus amorem loci sic conciliat, ne unquam deserant.
  1941 translation by Harrison Boyd Ash
  There is a kind of hawk which the country-folk call a tinnunculus (kestrel) and which generally makes its nest in buildings. The young of this bird are enclosed separately in earthenware pots, and while they are still breathing, lids are put over the pots which are smeared with plaster and hung up in the corners of the pigeon-houses. This induces in the birds such a love for the place that they never desert it.
- c. 77 CE – 79 CE, Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia 10.109.2:
  Ob id cum his habenda est avis quae tinnungulus vocatur; defendit enim illas terretque accipitres naturali potentia in tantum ut visum vocemque eius fugiant. Hac de causa praecipuus columbis amor eorum, feruntque, si in quattuor angulis defodiantur in ollis novis oblitis, non mutare sedem columbas
  1940 translation by H. Rackham
  For that reason the bird called kestrel must be classed with these; for it defends the pigeons, and scares the hawks by its natural powerfulness so much that they fly from sight and sound of it. For this reason wood-pigeons have a special love for kestrels, and they say that if kestrels put in new jars with their mouths sealed up are hidden in the four corners of the dovecot the pigeons do not change their abode

Declension

Second-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	tinnunculus	tinnunculī
Genitive	tinnunculī	tinnunculōrum
Dative	tinnunculō	tinnunculīs
Accusative	tinnunculum	tinnunculōs
Ablative	tinnunculō	tinnunculīs
Vocative	tinnuncule	tinnunculī

Descendants

Translingual: Falco tinnunculus (“common kestrel”)

References

^ Lindsay, W. M. (1918) “Bird-Names in Latin Glossaries”, in Classical Philology, volume 8, number 1, pages 21-22