sucula

See also: Suculae

Latin

Alternative forms

succula

Etymology

From sūs (“pig, hog, sow”) +‎ -cula (diminutive suffix), at least when used literally. The more frequent "winch", "windlass" sense is most often explained as a metaphorical extension of this, by the resemblance of the device and the attached apparatus to a sow with her litter; the use of porculus (“little piglet”) figuratively to refer to a hook or clutching device used with a sucula indicates that this interpretation was certainly salient, whether original or secondary.^[1]

Kortlandt 2007, citing Dybo 1961, explains the form's short vowel as from *sŭko- with an originally stressed velar suffix that caused pretonic shortening (which per Dybo is a shared feature of Italic and Celtic).^[2]^[3] Rasmussen 1999 instead attributes the short vowel to pre-geminate shortening (*sukkla- < *sukkelā-), and argues that Dybo was incorrect to give this as an example of pretonic shortening.^[4]

Alternative proposals for the etymology of the "windlass" sense:

Per Walde and Hofmann 1954, the "windlass" sense is from a Proto-Indo-European root related to Lithuanian sùkti (“to weave, spin, rotate”) and Russian скать (skatʹ, “twist, turn”).^[5]
Per Lewis and Short 1879, the "windlass" sense is possibly related to Greek σεύω (seúō, “drive”), itself of uncertain origin.

Pronunciation

(Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈsu.ku.la/, [ˈs̠ʊkʊɫ̪ä]
(modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈsu.ku.la/, [ˈsuːkulä]

The vowel in the first syllable is short per Gaffiot, Lewis and Short, Walde and Hofmann, and Kortlandt. Lindsay (1892) argues that it scans short where it occurs in Plautus' Rudens (quoted below).^[6] De Vaan marks the vowel as long, but notes that per Schrijver, derivatives of sūs may be built on either sū- from the nominative or su- from the oblique forms.^[7]

Noun

sucula f (genitive suculae); first declension

(rare) Diminutive of sūs (“pig”)
- c. 211 BCE, Plautus, Rudens 4.4.1170, (trochaic septenarius):
  Palaestra post sicilicula argenteola et duae conexae maniculae et / sucula. Gripus quin tu i dierecta, cum sucula et cum porculis
  Palaestra then a little silver sickle and two joined little hands and a winch [or "and a little sow"]. Gripus Go be hanged with your little sow and little piglets.
- c. 998 CE, Ælfric of Eynsham, Grammar , (as cited in DMLBS^[8]):
  suilla vel sucula, gilte
winch, windlass, capstan (or similar device)

Usage notes

The literal sense "small female pig" is rare in Classical Latin: Lewis and Short indicate it only occurs in the cited passage from Plautus, where it may be a play on words with the "winch", "windlass" sense. The Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources also provides examples in postclassical glosses.

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	sucula	suculae
genitive	suculae	suculārum
dative	suculae	suculīs
accusative	suculam	suculās
ablative	suculā	suculīs
vocative	sucula	suculae

Descendants

→ English: succula

References

^ Eugene Stock McCartney (1912) Figurative Uses of Animal Names in Latin and Their Application to Military Devices: A Study in Semantics‎^[1], Press of the New Era Printing Company, →ISBN, pages 35-36
^ Frederik Kortlandt (2007) Italo-Celtic Origins and Prehistoric Development of the Irish Language‎^[2], Rodopi, →ISBN, page 33, citing Dybo 1961 (below)
^ Vladimir Antonovich Dybo (1961) “Сокращение долгот в кельто-италийских языках и его значение для балто-славянской и индоевропейской акцентологии [Shortening of lengths in the Celto-Italic languages and its implications for Balto-Slavic and Indo-European accentology]”, in Вопросы славянского языкознания, number 5, pages 9-34
^ Jens Elmegård Rasmussen (1999) Selected Papers on Indo-European Linguistics With A Section on Comparative Eskimo Linguistics‎^[3], volume 1, Museum Tusculanum Press, →ISBN, page 33
^ Walde, Alois, Hofmann, Johann Baptist (1954) “sucula”, in Lateinisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), 3rd edition, volume 2, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, page 621
^ W. M. Lindsay (1892 March) “Diminutives in -culus. Their Metrical Treatment in Plautus”, in The Classical Review‎^[4], volume 6, number 3, pages 87-89
^ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “sūs”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 603
^ R. E. Latham, D. R. Howlett, & R. K. Ashdowne, editors (1975-2013), “suculus”, in The Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, retrieved 26 January 2022