numella

Latin

Etymology

By Lidén, this is from a Proto-Italic *nopnā, being related to napura (“straw-rope”), Proto-Slavic *snopъ (“sheaf”), Old High German snuaba (“band, lace”), being related over the meaning of a “binding, ligature”. Similar phonetic development is found with columella from columna, and scabellum from the predecessor of scamnum, and somnus from *swépnos. The root is uncertain.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /nuˈmel.la/, [nʊˈmɛlːʲä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /nuˈmel.la/, [nuˈmɛlːä]

Noun

numella f (genitive numellae); first declension (pre-Classical)

1. a collar serving to impede movement
   • c. 200 BCE – 190 BCE, Plautus, Captivi 545–554:

     Perfidiae laudēs grātiāsque habēmus meritō magnās,
     quom nostrīs sȳcophantiīs, dolīs astūtiīsque,
     scapulārum cōnfīdentiā, virtūte ulnārum frētī,—
     quī advōrsum stimulōs, lāmminas crūcēsque compedēsque,
     nervōs, catēnās, carcerēs, numellās, pedicās, bōiās,
     indūctōrēsque ācerrumōs gnārōsque nostrī tergī,
     quī saepe ante in nostrās scaplās cicātrīcēs indidērunt,—
     eae nunc legiōnēs, cōpiae exercitūsque eōrum
     vī pugnandō, periūriīs nostrīs fugae potitī.

     To perfidy we give great praise and thanks deservedly, when we have entrusted us to our feints, our malices, our shrewdnesses, our reliance upon our shoulder-blades and the strength of our arms, against our goads, blades, crosses, shackles, sinews, chains, gaols, neck irons, foot irons, fetters, the bitter betrayers which know our backs well, who often already have left scars in our shoulder-blades – these legions now, the troops and heres fighting with their power, have attained flight with our prowess.

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	numella	numellae
genitive	numellae	numellārum
dative	numellae	numellīs
accusative	numellam	numellās
ablative	numellā	numellīs
vocative	numella	numellae

References

• “numella”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• numella in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Lidén, Evald (1905) “Wortgeschichtliches”, in Zeitschrift für vergleichende Sprachforschung auf dem Gebiete der indogermanischen Sprachen (in German), volume 41, published 1907, pages 397–398