libellus

Latin

Etymology

Diminutive from liber (“book”) +‎ -lus.

Pronunciation

Noun

libellus m (genitive libellī); second declension

  1. the inner bark of a tree used for writing tablets
  2. (transferred senses)
    1. a little book, booklet, pamphlet (esp. a book written in pages rather than long rolls)
      • c. 84 BCE – 54 BCE, Catullus, Carmina 1.1:
        Cui dōnō lepidum novum libellum
        To whom do I give this elegant new booklet?
      • 86 CE – 103 CE, Martialis, Epigrammata 7.3:
        Cūr nōn mitto meōs tibi, Pontiliāne, libellōs?
        nē mihi tū mittās, Pontiliāne, tuōs.
        Why do I not send my little books [of poetry] to you, Pontilianus?
        So that you, Pontilianus, don't send yours to me.
    2. (in the plural, poetic) a bookseller's shop
      • c. 84 BCE – 54 BCE, Catullus, Carmina 55:
        te Campo quaesivimus minore,
        te in Circo, te in omnibus libellis,
        You, little Camerius, I’ve looked for you,
        you, in the Circus, you, in the bookshops,
    3. a writing of any kind
      1. a memorandum-book, notebook, journal, diary
        • 44 BCE – 43 BCE, Cicero, Philippicae 1.8.19:
          si quid memoriae causa rettulit in libellum
          supposing that he entered something in a notebook for the purpose of memory
      2. a memorial
        • 66 BCE, Cicero, Pro Cluentio 69.197:
          non illi in libellis laudationum decreta miserunt
          they did not send the decreed praises in little written memorials
      3. a petition
        • Dictum est autem: Quicumque dimiserit uxorem suam, det ei libellum repudii.:
          And it has been said: 'Whoever would dismiss his wife, let him give her a bill of divorce'. Vulgate, Mt 5, 31
      4. a note of invitation, notice, programme
        • 44 BCE – 43 BCE, Cicero, Philippicae 2.38.97:
          qui ea tamquam gladiatorum libellos palam venditent.
          who sell them openly as if they were gladiatorial programmes
        • c. 102 CE, Tacitus, Dialogus de oratoribus 9:
          nam et domum mutuatur et auditorium exstruit et subsellia conducit et libellos dispergit.
          to get the loan of a house, to fit up a recitation-hall, to hire chairs, and to distribute programmes.
      5. a public notification, announcement, placard, handbill
      6. a letter
        Synonyms: epistola, littera
      7. (post-Augustan) a libel, lampoon, pasquinade
        • 121 CE, Suetonius, De vita Caesarum Vita divi Augusti 55:
          Etiam sparsos de se in curia famosos libellos nec expavit et magna cura redarguit
          He did not even dread the lampoons against him which were scattered in the senate house, but took great pains to refute them
      8. (post-Augustan) a written accusation or complaint
        • 100 CE – 127 CE, Juvenalis, Saturae 6.244:
          componunt ipsae per se formantque libellos
          they compose and fashion the acussations themselves
      9. a lawyer's brief
        • 100 CE – 127 CE, Juvenalis, Saturae 7.107:
          Dic igitur quid causidicis civilia praestent officia et magno comites in fasce libelli.
          Then tell me what advocates earn from their services in the courts and from the huge bundle of briefs that keep them company.
      10. An attestation, certificate

Declension

Second-declension noun.

singular plural
nominative libellus libellī
genitive libellī libellōrum
dative libellō libellīs
accusative libellum libellōs
ablative libellō libellīs
vocative libelle libellī

Synonyms

Derived terms

Descendants

  • → Ancient Greek: λίβελλος (líbellos)
  • → Catalan: libel
  • → English: libel
  • → French: libelle
  • → Galician: libelo
  • → Italian: libello
  • → Occitan: libèl
  • → Portuguese: libelo
  • → Spanish: libelo

References

  • “libellus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • “libellus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • "libellus", 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)
  • “libellus”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
  • “libellus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • “libellus”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin
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