acriculus

Latin

Etymology

ācri-, stem of ācer +‎ -culus

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /aːˈkri.ku.lus/, [äːˈkrɪkʊɫ̪ʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /aˈkri.ku.lus/, [äˈkriːkulus]

Adjective

ācriculus (feminine ācricula, neuter ācriculum); first/second-declension adjective

1. diminutive of ācer (“sharp; testy”)
   • c. 45 BCE, Cicero, Tusculan Disputations 3.38.1:

     hoc dicit, et hoc ille acriculus me audiente Athenis senex Zeno, istorum acutissimus, contendere et magna voce dicere solebat: eum esse beatum, qui praesentibus voluptatibus frueretur confideretque se fruiturum aut in omni aut in magna parte vitae dolore non interveniente, aut si interveniret, si summus foret, futurum brevem, sin productior, plus habiturum iucundi quam mali

     • 1886 translation by Andrew P. Peabody

       This, however, he does say, and this old Zeno, that sharp little man, the most acute of Epicureans, in my hearing at Athens used to argue and proclaim with a loud voice, namely, that he is happy who enjoys present pleasures, and expects to enjoy the like during most or all of his life, without the intervention of pain, or who, if pain intervenes, bears it in mind that if very severe, it must be brief, if prolonged, attended by more of enjoyment than of evil

Usage notes

This appears as a hapax legomenon in the corpus of Cicero's works in the passage quoted above. The difference in meaning between the diminutive and the base adjective is disputed: Lewis and Short defines it as "somewhat sharp, testy", i.e. as "ācer to a small extent" or "possessing a small amount of the quality described by the word ācer", but Petersen argues that this reading of the word as a "diminutive of quality" is incorrect, and that the diminutive instead has a deteriorative sense (serving to express a negative shade of emotion such as contempt) relative to the original adjective.

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

	singular				plural
	masculine	feminine	neuter		masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	ācriculus	ācricula	ācriculum		ācriculī	ācriculae	ācricula
genitive	ācriculī	ācriculae	ācriculī		ācriculōrum	ācriculārum	ācriculōrum
dative	ācriculō	ācriculae	ācriculō		ācriculīs
accusative	ācriculum	ācriculam	ācriculum		ācriculōs	ācriculās	ācricula
ablative	ācriculō	ācriculā	ācriculō		ācriculīs
vocative	ācricule	ācricula	ācriculum		ācriculī	ācriculae	ācricula

Further reading

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