noun · neutersecond declension
pistillum
pistillum n (genitive pistillī)
Classical[pɪsˈtɪl.lũː]Ecclesiastical[pisˈtil.lum]
Meaning
- neuterA pestle.
Declension
| form | singular | plural |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | pistillum | pistilla |
| genitive | pistillī | pistillōrum |
| dative | pistillō | pistillīs |
| accusative | pistillum | pistilla |
| ablative | pistillō | pistillīs |
| vocative | pistillum | pistilla |
pistillum, i, n., and pistillus, i, m.,
I. a pounder, pestle of a mortar, Plaut. Aul. 1, 2, 17:
semen sinapis in mortarium conicito et pistillis conterito, Col. 12, 55; Plin. 34, 18, 50, § 169: pistillum grande est, Auct. ap. Non. 221, 5 (yet pastillum appears to be the more correct reading).Origins
A diminutive formation from the root of pīnsō and pistō. Perhaps from *pistlelo-, diminutive of *pistlo- (the ancestor of pīlum (“pounder, pestle”)), from *pis- and the instrument noun suffix *tlo-. Alternatively from *pistrelo-, with the -tr- variant of the instrument noun suffix. On the one hand, the base *pistrum is not attested, and the phonetically regular outcome of *pistrelo- would probably be pistellum rather than pistillum. On the other hand, reconstructing a *-s-tl- sequence in the base at the time the diminutive was derived is chronologically problematic since *-tl- was changed to *-kl-* from early on in Italic (as seen in the Latin instrument suffix -culum).
Descendants
- Italianpestello
- Englishpestlefrom Old French pestel
- Englishpistillum
- Frenchpistil
- Englishpistilfrom French pistil
- Romanianpistilfrom French pistil
- Italianpistillo
- Spanishpistilo
- Middle Frenchpestelfrom Old French pestel
- Old Occitanpestel
In English words that came into English from pistillum
- pestlepistillum