-ula
Meaning
- femininemorphemeNoun suffix denoting instrument.
regō + -ula → rēgula
tegō + -ula → tēgula
Origins
Probably from Proto-Indo-European *-tlom, *-dʰlom, suffix forming instrumental nouns, with simplification of the suffix-initial stop when it came after another stop. However, the details of the development are debated. The words rēgula and tēgula are notable in showing a lengthened vowel relative to the base verbs regō and tegō. Sihler reconstructs *-dʰl- in rēgula and tēgula; in contrast, Nielsen reconstructs *-tl-, suggesting that the lengthened vowels are the result of Lachmann's law before a sequence of originally voiced + voiceless stop (as in the participles rēctus and tēctus). As this would be expected to result in forms with voiceless stops (*rēcula and *tēcula), Nielsen proposes that either the voiced stop /ɡ/ was reintroduced by analogy, or a phonetic change caused /k/ to be voiced when preceded by a long vowel and followed by /l/ across a morpheme boundary (*rēk-la, *tēk-la > *rēg-la, *tēg-la); this is supported by two additional proposed etymologies, *strāto-lo- > *strāk-lo- > *strāg-lo- > strāgulum and *trājak-kla > *trāk-la > *trāg-la > trāgula. Voicing of a stop before /l/ in a heterosyllabic cluster might also be seen in neglego, and is argued by Sen to have occurred in pūblicus; in contrast, a voiceless stop can be found after a morpheme boundary in instrument nouns in -culum such as pōculum). Alternatively, related to the suffix -ulus used to form some deverbal agent nouns such as gerulus, gerula. Compare Proto-Germanic *-ilaz (and variants), forming agent and instrument nouns. Compare instrument nouns in -ulum.