acutulus

Latin

Etymology

acūtus +‎ -ulus

Pronunciation

Adjective

acūtulus (feminine acūtula, neuter acūtulum, adverb acūtule); first/second-declension adjective

  1. Diminutive of acūtus (“sharp, acute, subtle”)
    • 45 BCE, Cicero, De Natura Deorum 3.18.7:
      Zenonisque brevīs et acutulas conclusiones in eam partem sermonis quam modo dixi differemus
      • 1896 translation by Francis Brooks
        and the syllogisms of Zeno, with their conciseness and petty ingenuity, will be deferred to that part of the discourse which I have just mentioned
    • c. 177 CE, Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticae 17.5.3.3:
      rhetoricus quidam sophista utriusque linguae callens, haut sane ignobilis ex istis acutulis et minutis doctoribus, qui τεχνικοί appellantur

Usage notes

The difference in meaning between the diminutive and the base adjective is disputed: Lewis and Short defines it as "somewhat pointed, acute, or subtile", i.e. as "acūtus to a small extent" or "possessing a small amount of the quality described by the word acūtus", but Petersen argues that this reading of the word as a "diminutive of quality" is incorrect, and that the diminutive instead either expresses the smallness of the modified noun,[1] or has a "deteriorative" sense (serving to express a negative shade of emotion such as contempt) relative to the original adjective[2]

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

Number Singular Plural
Case / Gender Masculine Feminine Neuter Masculine Feminine Neuter
Nominative acūtulus acūtula acūtulum acūtulī acūtulae acūtula
Genitive acūtulī acūtulae acūtulī acūtulōrum acūtulārum acūtulōrum
Dative acūtulō acūtulō acūtulīs
Accusative acūtulum acūtulam acūtulum acūtulōs acūtulās acūtula
Ablative acūtulō acūtulā acūtulō acūtulīs
Vocative acūtule acūtula acūtulum acūtulī acūtulae acūtula

References
  1. Petersen, Walter. 1916. Latin Diminution of Adjectives. Classical Philology, Vol. 11, No. 4 (Oct., 1916), pp. 426-451. (page 443)
  2. Petersen, Walter. 1917. Latin Diminution of Adjectives. II. Classical Philology, Vol. 12, No. 1 (Jan., 1917), pp. 49-67. (page 50)

Further reading
  • “acutulus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • “acutulus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
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