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The corpus record — Latin

tabula

tabula

board, plank

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

Where it lives

Densest 12 of 172 attested works shown, by occurrences per 10,000 attested tokens.

What it meant

1. tabula — de Vaan

tabula 'board, plank' [f. α] (P1.+; SCBac. tabold) Derivatives: tabella 'wooden tablet, board' (P1.+), tabulation 'floor made of boards, stage5 (Enn.+), tab(u)linum 'room between the atium and the peristyle5 (Varro+). Pit. *taf/pla- 'board5. It. cognates: U. tafle e [loc.sg. + -en] [f] 'instrument for transporting the sacrificial fire\ PIE *th 2 -dV? The etymology is uncertain. If the original form was Pit. … — [de Vaan, s.v. tabula, p. 618]

2. tăbŭla — Lewis & Short

tăbŭla, ae, f.root ta-, tab; whence also taberna, q. v.,

I a board, plank.
I In gen.: si tabulam de naufragio stultus arripuerit, Cic. Off. 3, 23, 89; cf. id. Att. 4, 18, 3; Verg. A. 1, 119: laceras tabulas in litore vidi, Ov. M. 11, 428: tabula navis, Juv. 14, 289; Verg. A. 9, 537: inauratae, Plin. 36, 15, 24, § 114: latera (fossarum) cluduntur tabulis, id. 33, 4, 21, § 76: perforatae, Col. 7, 4, 5.—Esp., a board to play on, Ov. de Nuce, 77; Sen. Tranq. An. 14, 7; Juv. 1, 90.—
II In partic.
A A writing-tablet; also, a tablet written upon, a writing, as a letter, contract, account, list, will, etc. (cf. tabella): tabulae litteris Graecis confectae, Caes. B. G. 1, 29: cerata, Plaut. As. 4, 1, 18: litteraria, a writing-tablet for children, Varr. R. R. 3, 5, 10; cf.: laevo suspensi loculos tabulamque lacerto, Hor. S. 1, 6, 74; id. Ep. 1, 1, 56: ponatur calculus assint Cum tabula pueri, Juv. 9, 41: tabula calculatoria, Schol. Juv. 7, 73.—
B Plur., a book of account: pro tabulis, Ubi aera perscribuntur usuraria, Plaut. Truc. 1, 1, 52; cf.: multum differt, in arcāne positum sit argentum, an in tabulis debeatur, Cic. Top. 3, 16: litterae lituraeque omnes assimulatae, expressae, de tabulis in libros transferuntur, Cic. Verr. 2, 2, 77, § 189: aliquid in tabulas referre, id. Fl. 9, 20: tabulas conficere, id. de Or. 2, 23, 97; Cic. Verr. 2, 1, 23, § 60; id. Rosc. Com. 2, 5: unae tabulae proferantur, in quibus vestigium sit aliquod, quod, etc., id. Font. 5, 12 (1, 2): novae, new account-books (by substituting which for the old ones debts were abolished in whole or in part), id. Phil. 6, 4, 11; id. Att. 5, 21, 13; 14, 21, 4; id. Off. 2, 23, 84; Caes. B. C. 3, 1; 3, 21; cf. Sall. C. 21, 2. —
C A counter, office where records are kept: suos necessarios conrogat, ut ad tabulam Sextiam sibi adsint horā secundā, Cic. Quint. 6, 25. —
D Adest ad tabulam: licetur Aebutius (a tablet on which an auction was advertised); hence, an auction, Cic. Caecin. 6, 16; cf.: sin ad tabulam venimus, vincemus facultates Othonis, id. Att. 12, 40, 4. —
E Of public records, etc.: tabula praerogativae, a list of votes, Cic. Pis. 5, 11; cf. Varr. R. R. 3, 5, 18; 3, 17, 1; Q. Cic. Pet. Cons. 2, 8: qui de tabulis publicis recitat, public records, State papers, Cic. Fl. 17, 40; so, publicae, id. Arch. 4, 8; Liv. 26, 36, 11.—Esp., the censor's lists: tabularum cura, Liv. 4. 8, 4: memoria publica recensionis tabulis publicis impressa, Cic. Mil. 27, 74; Flor. 1, 6, 3; cf.: tabulae aereae, in quibus publicae constitutiones inciduntur, Plin. 34, 9, 21, § 99: XII. tabulae, the Twelve Tables, Cic. Rep. 2, 31, 54; so of the tables of the laws: decem tabulas conscripsisse, id. ib. 2, 36, 61: duabus tabulis additis, id. ib. 2, 37, 63; id. de Or. 1, 43, 193; 1, 44, 195 al.; v. duodecim; cf.: nequa tabula ullius decreti Caesaris aut beneficii figeretur, id. Phil. 1, 1, 3: tabula Sullae, the list of proscribed persons, Juv. 2, 28; Mart. 5, 69, 2; Cic. Rosc. Am. 8, 21; 9, 26.—
F Of any formal or solemn writing: in tabulas multis haec via fecit iter, i. e. a will, testament, Ov. A. A. 2, 332; Plin. Ep. 2, 20, 11; Juv. 2, 58; 4, 19; 12, 123; 14, 55; Mart. 5, 39, 2: Dicaearchi tabulae, maps, Cic. Att. 6, 2, 3: lapideae, Vulg. Exod. 24, 12; id. 2 Cor. 3, 3. —
G A painted tablet or panel, a painting, picture: tabula picta, Plaut. Men. 1, 2, 34; Ter. Eun. 3, 5, 36; Cic. Brut. 75, 261: imago in tabulis, id. Fin. 5, 1, 3; id. de Or. 1, 35, 161; id. Par. 5, 2, 37; Prop. 1, 2, 22; 2, 3, 41; Plin. 35, 9, 36, § 64. — Prov.: manum de tabulā, take your hand from the picture! enough! it is finished! sed heus tu, manum de tabulā, Cic. Fam. 7, 25, 1; cf.: dixit (Apelles) ... uno se praestare, quod manum de tabulā sciret tollere, Plin. 35, 10, 36, § 80. —
H A votive-tablet (on which a shipwreck was painted): me tabula sacer Votiva paries indicat, etc., Hor. C. 1, 5, 13: largire inopi, ne pictus oberret Caeruleā in tabulā, Pers. 6, 32 (cf.: mersā rate naufragus assem Dum rogat et pictā se tempestate tuetur, Juv. 14, 301). —
K A bed or plot of ground in a vineyard, Pall. Jan. 11; id. Febr. 10, 1; 9, 9; Auct. Limit. p. 311 Goes.—
L A fold in a garment, Tert. Pall. 1 and 5.

3. tabula — Walde–Hofmann

tabula (tabla), -ae f. „Brett, bretterne Bank, Spielbrett, Gemälde, Schreibtafel, Urkunde, Landkarte, Schuldbücher* (seit Plaut., S. C. Bacch., Cato, rom. neben *taula, *tabula (alat. tagula nach Isid. orig. 19, 19,8 à veteribus tagula vocatur, à tegendö scilicet, was bloße Volkset.], zabulatiö f. seit Caes. und Vitr.) Nebf, trab- Itin. Alex. und Pallad. s. Niedermann Festschr. Gauschat 46°, tabulatum n. … — [Walde–Hofmann, s.v. tabula, p. 1548]

In the wild

6 of 842 attestations shown.

Where it came from

  • de Vaan, Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Brill 2008) Treated in de Vaan, Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Brill 2008) s.v. tabula (scan p. 618; entry #1754). Root candidates: *ta-, *teh2-.
  • Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine Treated in Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine s.v. tabula (scan p. 696; entry #11567).
  • Walde-Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches Worterbuch Treated in Walde-Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches Worterbuch s.v. tabula (scan pp. 1548-1549; entry #2917). Root candidates: *tlo-, *tela-, *stabh-.

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.