The corpus record — Latin

gabalus

gabalus · m

a kind of gallows

Generated live from the audited Latin corpus — every figure on this page is a database query, not prose from memory.

Where it lives

Opilius Macrinus 1 · 4.02/10k

What it meant

1. gābălus — Lewis & Short

gābălus, i, m.an old Germ. word, i. q. the modern Gabel (fork); hence, as an instrument of punishment,

I a kind of gallows (syn.: furca, patibulum, crux).

I Lit.: in gabalum aliquem suffigere, Varr. ap. Non. 117, 15.—*

II Transf., as a term of reproach, gallows-bird, hang-dog, Macrin. ap. Capit. Macrin. 11.

2. gabalus — Walde–Hofmann

gabalus, + m. (-&-, s. Pomp. gramm. V 309, 31) „Galgen, Kreuz" seit Varro, rom. nur in einer E Weiterbildung, s. u,): entl. aus dem Kelt. (Holder I 1508; -a/- nur róm.-gall, Weisgerber Festlandkelten 185), vgl. air. mir. gabul „Gabel, Marterholz, Verbindungspunkt der Beine, Stelle zwischen den Beinen", kymr. gafl „Gabel, vulva*, abret. Plur. gablau „Gabel“, nbret. gavl, gaol „Gabelung* (vgl. die Abltg. gallorom. … — [Walde–Hofmann, s.v. gabalus, p. 607]

In the wild

gabalus Historia Augusta, Opilius Macrinus 11

Where it came from

Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine Treated in Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine s.v. gabalus (scan p. 289; entry #4505).
Walde-Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches Worterbuch Treated in Walde-Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches Worterbuch s.v. gabalus (scan p. 607; entry #1202). Root candidates: *jhab-, *ghabh-.

Latin text and lemmatization derived from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-latinLit), CC BY-SA 4.0. Lewis & Short (public domain) via Perseus. This derived data is shared under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 license.