rabuscula
Latin
Etymology
Uncertain; apparently a diminutive in -ula from an unclear root. L&S and Gaffiot both propose rāvus (“grey”). If that is the correct etymology, the first vowel would presumably be /ā/, not /ă/. The apparent discrepancy in consonants would be explained by the fact that intervocalic /b/ and /w/ were merging to /β/ around the time that Pliny wrote his Historia naturalis (77 CE- the only work containing an attestation of rabuscula). As for the element *-usca, compare the endings of labrusca, atrusca.
Pronunciation
- (Classical Latin) IPA(key): [raˈbʊs.kʊ.ɫa]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): [raˈbus.ku.la]
Noun
rabuscula f (genitive rabusculae); first declension
- a type of vine
Declension
First-declension noun.
| singular | plural | |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | rabuscula | rabusculae |
| genitive | rabusculae | rabusculārum |
| dative | rabusculae | rabusculīs |
| accusative | rabusculam | rabusculās |
| ablative | rabusculā | rabusculīs |
| vocative | rabuscula | rabusculae |
References
- “rabuscula”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- rabuscula in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.