subula

English

Noun

subula (plural subulae)

1. (botany) A fine sharp point.
   • 1870, Berthold Seemann, Journal of Botany, British and Foreign, volume 8, page 392:

     Leaves very densely crowded, […] upper extended into a subula, toothed at apex, wings recurved in upper part.

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *syuh₁-dʰleh₂, which consists of the root *syewh₁- (“sew”) and the suffix *-dʰlom (“tool suffix”). This becomes the Latin derivation suō (“to sew”) +‎ -bula. Cognate with Proto-Slavic *šidlo (“awl”) (whence Bulgarian шило (šilo), Czech šídlo, Russian ши́ло (šílo) and others), and with Proto-Germanic *siwjaną (“to sew”).

Compare typologically Ancient Greek ῥαφίς (rhaphís) < ῥάπτω (rháptō).

Noun

sūbula f (genitive sūbulae); first declension

1. shoemaker's awl

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	sūbula	sūbulae
genitive	sūbulae	sūbulārum
dative	sūbulae	sūbulīs
accusative	sūbulam	sūbulās
ablative	sūbulā	sūbulīs
vocative	sūbula	sūbulae

Related terms

• insūbulum
• sūbulātus

Descendants

• Aromanian: sulã
• Catalan (Algherese): sula
• Galician: subela (via diminutive *sūbella)
• Italian: subbia (“chisel”)
• Portuguese: sovela
• Romanian: sulă
• Spanish: subilla (via diminutive *sūbella)
• Venetan: sùbia
• → Greek: σούβλα f (soúvla, “spit”)

References

• “subula”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• "subula", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “subula”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• De Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 600