baculum
Meaning
- neuterwalking stick, cane, staff
- neutersceptre, rod, verge (staff of office)
- neuterstick, cudgel
- Medieval Latinneutera stick used as a symbol of warranty or in transfers of property
- EcclesiasticalLatinneutera support, stay
- EcclesiasticalLatinneutercrosier
- neutera penis bone
Latīnē defined in Latin in our graded readers
lignum longum quod manū tenēmus dum ambulāmus; senum et viātōrum.lignum quō nītimurlignum quod manū tenēsChoosing the right word Döderlein's Latin Synonyms
Fustis · Ferula · Sudes · Trudes · Rudis · Scipio · Baculus
1. Fustis and ferula denote sticks for striking; sudes, trudes, and rudis, for thrusting; scipio and baculus, for walking. 2. Fustus (πτορθός?) is a cudgel or club, large enough to strike a man dead; but ferula, a little stick, or rod for the chastisement of school-boys; sudes (ὄζος) and trudes (στορθή, the root of Trüssel, a weapon called the Morning-star) [a sort of truncheon with a spiked head], are used in battle; rudis (ὀρσός) only as a foil in the fencing-school; scipio (σκηπίων, σκῆψαι), serves especially for ornament and state, as a symbol of superior power, or of the honor due to age; baculus, bacillum (βάκτρον), serve more for use and convenience to lean upon, and at the same time, when necessary, as a weapon. (iii. 265.)
Declension
| form | singular | plural |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | baculum | bacula |
| genitive | baculī | baculōrum |
| dative | baculō | baculīs |
| accusative | baculum | bacula baculōs |
| ablative | baculō | baculīs |
| vocative | baculum bacule | bacula |
bacillum): proximus lictor, Sextius, converso baculo oculos misero tundere coepit, Cic. Verr. 2, 5, 54, § 142: baculum agreste, Ov. M. 15, 655: pastorale, Sil. 13, 334; Ov. M. 8, 218; 14, 655; 15, 659; 6, 27; 8, 693; id. F. 1, 177; Claud. Epigr. 2, 3; 2, 26; 2, 484: baculi crassitudo, Plin. 20, 23, 96, § 255.— So, baculum (-us) et pera, staff and pouch, badges of Cynic philosophers, Mart. 4, 53; App. Mag. p. 288, 6; Aus. Epigr. 53 (cf. bactroperita); Cels. 8, 20; Vitr. 10, 6; Plin. 30, 14, 44, § 129 Gron.; cf.: in baculo me transivi Jordanum istum, i.e. as a poor pilgrim, Vulg. Gen. 32, 10.—Also, the augural staff or lituus, Liv. 1, 18, 7.—A sceptre: baculum aureum (regis) berylli distinguebant, Curt. 9, 1, 30; Flor. 3, 19, 10; cf. id. 4, 11, 3. —And of the sceptre on the stage, in tragic representations, Suet. Ner. 24 Oud.: corpora serpentum baculi violaverat ictu, Ov. M. 3, 325; Col. 2, 20 (21), 4: summa papaverum capita dicitur baculo decussisse, Liv. 1, 54, 6: baculorum subactiones, blows with small staves, sticks, Vitr. 2, 4; 7, 3.—an speras in baculo arundineo, Vulg. 4 Reg. 18, 21: baculum senectutis nostrae, id. Tob. 10, 4.—Charlton Lewis's shorter dictionary for students: the same scholarship in plain, modern definitions.
Origins
Uncertain, though probably loaned from a non-Indo-European substrate. The term is possibly cognate with Proto-Slavic *bokъ, Proto-Celtic *bakkos, Ancient Greek βάκτρον (báktron), and Proto-West Germanic *pagil. Based on these forms, the Proto-Indo-European root *bak- has been reconstructed. The term could be construed as a derivative of Proto-Indo-European *bak-tlom, although De Vaan postulates a pre-form *bak-k(e)los. The linguist Gert Klingenschmitt has proposed an alternative reconstruction *gʷaḱ-, though the linguist Thomas Olander suggests that a form *gʷh₂ḱ- could also yield the expected forms according to this theory. Nevertheless, such an alternative reconstruction would perhaps require the Latin term to have been borrowed from an Osco-Umbrian language, though it would allow for Old Armenian կալ (kal, “threshing floor”) to be adduced as a cognate. See also beccus, Ancient Greek βακτηρία (baktēría).
- Catalanbàcul
- Englishbaculum
- Frenchbâcle
- Italianabbacchio
- Italianbacchio
- Italianbacolo
- Portuguesebáculo
- Sardinianbaculu
- Spanishbáculo
- Galicianbagoo