a. and sb. Also Att-. [ad. L. Atellānus, f. Atella, a town in Campania.] A. adj. Of or pertaining to Atella, which was famous for its popular satirical and, in later times, licentious farces; hence, farcical, ribald. B. sb. A dramatic composition of this kind. Atellanican a. [L. Atellānicus], = ATELLAN.
1647. R. Stapylton, Juvenal, 106. Of whom some Attelan or ridiculous jeering rimes were made.
c. 1710. Shaftesb., Charac. (1749), II. 170. Their Fescennin and Atellan way of Wit was in early days prohibited.
1621. Burton, Anat. Mel., III. i. I. i. 257. Many old poets … did write Fescennines, Attellanes, and lascivious songs.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 183. Tiberius Cæsar … was called ‘Hircus vetulus,’ in the Atellanican comœdie.
