Etymograph

English

modillion

Modillion comes from Italian modiglione ‘corbel, modillion, truss’, and goes back to Latin mūtulus ‘projecting shelf, bracket’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmūtulus‘projecting shelf, bracket’
  2. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*mūtiliōnemreconstructed
  3. Italianc. 1300–presentmodiglione‘corbel, modillion, truss’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1920modillion

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmūtulus‘projecting shelf, bracket’
  2. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*mūtiliōnemreconstructed
  3. Italianc. 1300–presentmodiglione‘corbel, modillion, truss’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1920modillion

Earliest quotation: 1920, Frank Cousins, Phil M. Riley: “It is a large square structure, two and a…”

Every English word from Latin mūtulus

Today it means

noun A decoratively carved supporting block atop a column, often underneath a cornice, and usually smaller and more ornamental in function than a corbel.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Latin mūtulus / modillion

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