-culum

== English == === Suffix === -culum (no longer productive) Alternative form of -cule (diminutive suffix). == Latin == === Pronunciation === (Classical Latin) IPA(key): [kʊ.ɫũː] (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): [ku.lum] (stressed on the antepenult) === Etymology 1 === See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form. ==== Suffix ==== -culum inflection of -culus: nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular accusative masculine singular === Etymology 2 === From (with anaptyxis) Proto-Italic *-klom, from Proto-Indo-European *-tlom, from *-trom. Compare stabulum, which comes from a similar suffix *-dʰlom. Despite the resemblance, ōsculum (which besides is never found in the form **ōsclum) and other diminutive nouns do not contain this suffix. ==== Alternative forms ==== -clum, -crum, -ulum ==== Suffix ==== -culum n (genitive -culī); second declension suffix used to derive nouns from verbs, particularly nouns for tools and instruments Synonyms: -men, -mentum, -tōrium, -ium ‎prōpugnō, prōpugnāre (“to fight for, defend”) + ‎-culum → ‎prōpugnāculum (“bulwark, fortress, protection”) ‎dēvertō, dēvertere (“to turn aside, turn away; to lodge”) + ‎-culum → ‎dēverticulum (“byroad; digression; lodging; refuge”) ===== Usage notes ===== The main form of this suffix is -culum, but various alternative forms exist. Most tend to be found in particular phonological contexts: -crum can be found only if /l/ is present somewhere earlier in the word, as in lavācrum. It developed from Proto-Italic *-klom by long distance dissimilation (compare -ālis and its allomorph -āris). However, the non-dissimilated form -culum can also be found in some words with preceding /l/, such as liāculum. -trum is found whenever the suffix occurs immediately after /s/, as in haustrum. In addition, it is found in some words that contain a liquid /r/ or /l/ somewhere earlier, such as arātrum, tālitrum; this type of formation seems to have been old and unproductive in Classical Latin. It was inherited from the Proto-Indo-European variant form *-trom. Apart from the limited occurrence of the ending in inherited Latin vocabulary, it has been used to coin neologisms, at first with influence from the cognate Greek instrument noun suffix -τρον (-tron), later (in Neo-Latin) with influence from modern English inanimate agent nouns ending in -er or -or (such as computer) and similar formations in other modern European languages. -ulum is found whenever the suffix occurs immediately after a velar plosive (spelled c or g), as in cingulum. It is debated whether it comes from phonetic simplification of *-tlom after a plosive, or from the neuter of the etymologically distinct suffix -ulus (found in some agent nouns, such as figulus (“potter”)) from Proto-Italic *-elos. This ending can also occur after non-velar plosives, as in dēcipulum from dēcipiō. -rum is found after two stems that contain /l/ and end in a plosive: fulcrum and scalprum. It seems to originate from either *-tlom (with liquid dissimilation as in -crum) or *-trom, with simplification after a velar or labial plosive (as possibly in -ulum). The form -culum tends to be used in the remaining cases: it can be found after vowels (forming a number of common words in -āculum from first-conjugation verbs and some in -iculum from third-conjugation verbs) and after -r-. The suffix -bulum (dissimilated form -brum) is etymologically related and has a similar meaning. It is typically found after a vowel. There are no obvious conditions for when it is used instead of -culum/-crum. Most of the endings listed above have variant first-declension feminine forms, such as -cula, -tra, -ula, -bula, -bra (as in pavīcula, mulctra, dēcipula, sūbula, dolābra). Variant second-declension masculine versions of these endings are much less common, but are attested in a few nouns, such as culter, scalper (a variant of scalprum), arāter (a rare variant of arātrum), and the plural rastrī. ===== Declension ===== Second-declension noun (neuter). ===== Derived terms ===== ===== Descendants ===== From -āculum (by rebracketing of the first-conjugation thematic vowel -ā-): Asturian: -ayu Catalan: -all French: -ail, -aille Italian: -acchio Portuguese: -alho Spanish: -ajo From -ī̆culum: Asturian: -íu Italian: -icchio Spanish: -ijo === References === The Proto-Indo-European Instrument Noun Suffix *-tlom and its Variants, Birgit Anette Olsen, 1988. === Further reading === Clackson, James, Indo-European Word Formation: Proceedings from the International Conference, 2002 Philip Baldi, The Foundations of Latin, 2002, pp. 304-305