Latin

Noun

vetula f ‎(genitive vetulae); first declension

1. old woman
   • 1st or 2nd century, Juvenal, Satires, translated by Paul Allen Miller in Latin Verse Satire: An Anthology and Critical Reader, p.381.

     mortua, non vetula ("a dead woman, not an old one")

2. A corn dolly or small figurine, shaped as an old woman; a term in use among the Druidic pagans of Flanders in the 7th century.
   • 7th century BC, Vita Eligii (The Life of St. Eligius), sermons of St. Eligius, translated by Jo Ann McNamara.

     Nullus in Kalendas Januarii nefanda et ridiculosa, vetulas aut cervulos vel iotticos ("Do not..make vetulas, little deer or iotticos")

Declension

First declension.

Related terms

• vetulus

References

• VETULA in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• Elskens, Etienne, compiler. Latin Words, Genealogical Society of Flemish Americans.
• Miller, Paul Allen. Latin Verse Satire: An Anthology and Critical Reader, p.380-381.
• Vita Eligii (The Life of St. Eligius) (in English) - US translation
• Vita di Eligio, SRM 4, II, 16. (in Latin)
• Corn dolly on Wikipedia.Wikipedia