tomaculum

Latin

Alternative forms

tomāclum

Etymology

Somewhat unclear; probably derived in some way from Greek.

Lewis and Short refer it to Greek Ancient Greek τομή (tomḗ, “cutting, incision, insection”), in which case the ending is presumably the instrument noun suffix -culum. The same base may then appear in the word tomācina. Schrijver includes it in a list of loans from Greek, but with a question mark.[1]

The manuscripts of Petronius and Juvenal show a variety of other spellings, including thumatula, tumatula and thymatula; C. Pellegrino, taking spellings like these as the true reading, argued that the cited passages actually contain a diminutive derived from Greek θῡ́μᾰτᾰ (thū́mata) (the plural of θῦμᾰ (thûma)[2]. Bodel also considers these spellings to represent the original form, but finds the following alternative etymology proposed by Watkins more likely: Greek θύμον (thúmon), Latin thymum +‎ -ātus > *thumātus (“made with thyme”), *thumātum +‎ -ulus > thumātulum (“sausage seasoned with thyme”).[3]

Noun

tomāculum n (genitive tomāculī); second declension (uncommon)

a sausage of mixed meats and spices
- c. 27 CE – 66 CE, Petronius, Satyricon 31.11:
  ponticuli etiam ferruminati sustinebant glires melle ac papavere sparsos. fuerunt et tomacula ferventia supra craticulam argenteam posita, et infra craticulam Syriaca pruna cum granis Punici mali.
- c. 27 CE – 66 CE, Petronius, Satyricon 49.10:
  nec mora, ex plagis ponderis inclinatione crescentibus tomacula cum botulis effusa sunt.
- c. 100 CE – c. 130 CE, Juvenal, Satires 10.355:
  ut tamen et poscas aliquid uoueasque sacellis / exta et candiduli diuina tomacula porci, / orandum est ut sit mens sana in corpore sano.

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	tomāculum	tomācula
Genitive	tomāculī	tomāculōrum
Dative	tomāculō	tomāculīs
Accusative	tomāculum	tomācula
Ablative	tomāculō	tomāculīs
Vocative	tomāculum	tomācula

References

Schrijver, Peter C. H. (1991) The reflexes of the Proto-Indo-European laryngeals in Latin (Leiden studies in Indo-European; 2), Amsterdam, Atlanta: Rodopi, page 119
Bodel, J. (1989). "Missing Links: Thymatulum or Tomaculum?" Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, 92, 349–366. https://doi.org/10.2307/311367, page 351
Bodel, page 358