Periculum, in the sense of trial, is always the object of the verb facere: fac semel periculum, Cist. 504; priusquam periculum faceret, B. G. 4, 21. Its change to the meaning of danger must have been by some such step as is seen in the following example, although periculum facere, “make a trial,” is also practically the same as “run a risk”: nescio quanto in periculo sumus, Phor. 58. The common meaning of risk or danger hardly needs to be illustrated: salus sociorum summum in periculum vocatur, Pomp. 5, 12. The context shows it to have also two other meanings; viz., a lawsuit: meus labor in periculis privatorum caste integreque versatus, Pomp. 1, 2; a judicial sentence: petiit ut in periculo suo inscriberent, Nep. Ep. 8; est honestus, quod eorum hominum fidei tabulae publicae periculaque magistratuum committuntur, Verr. 2, 3, 79.
Piaculum is properly an offering performed as a means of appeasing a deity: porco femina piaculum faciundum est, Leg. II, 57; apparet omnia nec ullis piaculis expiari posse, Liv. 5, 53; and then naturally it is applied to the victim itself: duc nigras pecudes: ea prima piacula sunto, Aen. 6, 153; then also a sinful action, which needs expiation: nonne in mentem venit, quantum piaculi committatur?, Liv. 5, 52.
Spectaculum is properly a “sight”, anything seen: quom hoc mihi optulisti tam lepidum spectaculum, Poen. 209; then a show, on the stage or in the arena: spectacula sunt tributim data, Muren. 72. Once in Plautus it clearly means a part of the theater itself: exoritur ventus turbo, spectacula ibi ruont, Curc. 647; that it means also the theater in general is seen from a few examples: resonant spectacula plausu, Ov. M. 10, 668; ex omnibus spectaculis plausus est excitatus, Sest. 58.
Umbraculum is a shady place: faciundum umbracula, quo succedant homines in aestu tempore meridiano, Varro, R. R. I, 51; also anything that furnishes shade, an umbrella: aurea pellebant tepidos umbracula soles, Ov. F. II, 311. The limiting genitive in the following example shows the noun to have lost its regular stem-meaning and to have been used for “school”: Demetrius mirabiliter doctrinam ex umbraculis eruditorum otioque produxit, Leg. III, 14.
Vehiculum, a means of transportation, is applied to wagons or carts: omnes di, qui vehiculis tensarum solemnes coitus ludorum initis, Verr. 5, 186; but also to ships: ut procul divinum et novum vehiculum Argonautarum e monte conspexit, N. II, 89.
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That the words which we have treated vary in meaning according to the context seems perfectly obvious; but the extent to which this is true in general has received little if any attention from linguistic students. The tracing of the meaning of a word through various periods of the language has been commonly enough done; that side of the question, however, this investigation has not touched except incidentally. But the material presented in this chapter and the preceding has, it is hoped, been sufficient to illustrate how the words formed with our suffixes, while revealing a limited tendency in meaning due to their verb stems, often also owe much of their meaning to the context in which they are used.