cerviz

Forms

cerviz f (plural cervices)^[1] Old Spanish wrote ceruiz, çerviz, ceruiç and cerbiz, plural ceruices, çervizes.^[2][3] As in Latin, the plural was used with a singular meaning in Old Spanish and in the 16th century, and it is still so used in Asturias, where the word is popular.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin cervīx (“neck, nape”), written ceruiz in Old Spanish.^[4][6][7][1] Corominas takes it to be an inherited word in Spanish and Portuguese, judging by its derivatives, and Romanian cerbice is certainly popular; the REW doubts that it is inherited everywhere.^[4][8] The same Latin word is Portuguese cerviz, Old Catalan serviu (rare), Old Occitan cervitz, Old French cerviz and Italian cervice.^[4][8] The anatomical term cérvix is a learned doublet.^[1]

The origin of the Latin noun is unclear.^[9] Walde and Hofmann proposed a compound meaning “head band”, related to vinciō (“to bind”), which de Vaan finds semantically very doubtful; the OLD compares cerebrum.^[9][5] Wiktionary gives as one hypothesis a compound of Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂- (“head”) and *weyk- (“to bend”), “where the head turns”.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Fazienda de Ultra Mar (c. 1200, in a 13th-century copy) has the biblical blessing e solveras so jugo de sobre tu cerviz “and you will loosen his yoke from your neck”.^[3][2] The Fueros de Aragón of 1247 use it in the same image: metra iugo sobre to ceruiç “he will put a yoke on your neck”.^[3] Corominas's first records are the Libro de Alexandre (in one of its two manuscripts) and Alfonso X.^[4]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word was used in biblical images of the yoke and of stubbornness: Alfonso X's General estoria (1272–1275) has de dura ceruiz “stiff-necked”, endurecer la ceruiz and abaxar las ceruizes.^[10] Covarrubias (1611) explains ser de dura cerviz as being intractable and abaxar la cerviz as obeying, however unwillingly.^[11] Autoridades (1729) adds levantar la cerviz in the sense “to recover strength or fortune”, and the Academy's dictionary of 1817 lists bajar, doblar and levantar la cerviz and ser de dura cerviz “to be incorrigible”.^[12][13]

The Academy's 1884 edition defines it anatomically, with its seven vertebrae.^[14] Corominas notes that today the word belongs to the elevated style, the everyday word being pescuezo.^[4] In Leonese it names the dewlap of cattle.^[15]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – the Fazienda de Ultra Mar, in a 13th-century copy, has tu cerviz.^[3]
• 1220–1250 – the derivative cerviguillo appears in Berceo.^[6][4]
• 1240–1250 – the Libro de Alexandre uses the plural çervizes for one man's neck.^[4][3]
• 1247 – the Fueros de Aragón write ceruiç.^[3]
• 1272–1275 – Alfonso X's General estoria has de dura ceruiz “stiff-necked”.^[10]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija records cervigudo “thick-necked”.^[4][16]
• 1611 – Covarrubias explains ser de dura cerviz and abaxar la cerviz.^[11]
• 1729 – Autoridades records levantar la cerviz.^[12]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives an anatomical definition.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. The back of the neck, the nape, made up in humans and most mammals of seven vertebrae, muscles and skin.^[7][1]

Word family

• cerviguillo
• cervigudo
• cervigón
• descervigar

Related words

• cervical
• cérvix
• Latin cervīx

Usage notes

Set phrases: agachar, bajar or doblar la cerviz “to humble oneself”, levantar la cerviz “to grow proud”, and the older ser de dura cerviz “to be stubborn, incorrigible”.^[7][17][18]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock
3. ^ a b c d e f Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 57
5. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. cerviz
7. ^ a b c Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. cerviz
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024)
11. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 591
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 2, 293
13. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies)
15. ^ Le Men Loyer, Janick (2002–2012), Léxico del leonés actual, 4 vols., León: Centro de Estudios e Investigación San Isidoro; electronic version, Universidad de León, p. s.v. cerviz
16. ^ Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv
17. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos
18. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra