staticulum

Latin

Etymology

Apparently an irregularly formed diminutive from statua (“statue”) +‎ -culum (diminutive suffix) (with an unexpected change in gender from feminine to neuter, also found in the synonymous statunculum), from statuō (“to erect”), from status (“position, place”), ultimately from the root of sistō (“stand”). Alternatively, derived from the same root by means of the instrument noun suffix -culum, as in operculum (“covering”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /staˈti.ku.lum/, [s̠t̪äˈt̪ɪkʊɫ̪ʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /staˈti.ku.lum/, [st̪äˈt̪iːkulum]

Noun

staticulum n (genitive staticulī); second declension

1. a little statue or image, a statuette

   Synonyms: statunculum, sigillum

   • c. 77 CE – 79 CE, Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia 34.163:

     quae iam luxuria ad aurea quoque, non modo argentea, staticula pervenit

     a luxurious practice that has now got to using not only silver but even gold statuettes

   • c. 77 CE – 79 CE, Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia 37.140:

     etiam pateras, staticula, equorum ornamenta inde medicisque coticulas faciunt

     and from them also are made dishes, statuettes, horse-trappings and small mortars for the use of pharmacists

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	staticulum	staticula
Genitive	staticulī	staticulōrum
Dative	staticulō	staticulīs
Accusative	staticulum	staticula
Ablative	staticulō	staticulīs
Vocative	staticulum	staticula

Further reading

• “staticulum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• staticulum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.