libellus

Latin

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /liˈbel.lus/, [lʲɪˈbɛlːʲʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /liˈbel.lus/, [liˈbɛlːus]

Noun

libellus m (genitive libellī); second declension

1. a little book, booklet, pamphlet
   • 86 CE – 103 CE, Martial, 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. a billet, leaflet, handbill
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

Declension

Second-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	libellus	libellī
Genitive	libellī	libellōrum
Dative	libellō	libellīs
Accusative	libellum	libellōs
Ablative	libellō	libellīs
Vocative	libelle	libellī

Synonyms

• liberculus

Related terms

• liber
• librāriolus
• librārius

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’s 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