pollicium
.
Searchable Lemmata: pollicium (L), polluz (AF).
Alternate Forms: policium, polliceum, pollisium, pouce, poucer.
Definitions and Defining Citations:
1(n.)
Accessory;
thimble.(circa 1200 - post 1475)
Sex: Male, Female Ceremonial: No
Body Parts:
Etymological Evidence:
Definite, derived from L. pollex 'thumb'; see also parcipollex. The word meant both 'thimble' and 'thumb's breath'.
Pollex came into Anglo-French as pouce (still the form in modern French) by way of the accusative pollicem. AF polluz seems to be an adaptation of the Latin pollicium, or just possibly a continuation of a Vulgar Latin pollicium;
One modern literary French word for a thimble is poucier, derived from pouce + agent suffix; in Old French this was poucer, which existed also in Anglo-French and is present in the AND (s.v. poucer) in the sense 'thumb, thumb's-breadth'; although AND does not give any citations for the sense 'thimble' it is possible that that meaning existed also in Anglo-French.
A more common modern French term for a thimble is dé (or in full form, dé à coudre 'thimble for sewing'), which comes from Old French deel, dael. See dael.
WF: Derivation
Etym Cog:
References:
