alvus

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈaɫ.wʊs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈal.vus]^[1]

Forms

alvus f (genitive alvī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is probably inherited from Proto-Italic *aulos, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eulo- (“tube, cavity”), with /u/ and /l/ changing places as in nervus and parvus.^[2][1] Cognate with Ancient Greek αὐλός (aulós, “pipe, flute”), Hittite 𒀀𒌑𒇷 (auli-, “tube-shaped organ in the neck”) and Lithuanian aulas (“leg of a boot”).^[2][3] Another explanation takes it from Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- (“to nourish”), the root of alō.^[1] Festus derived it from alere, as the womb that feeds.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus, who has people stuff herbs into their stomach, with the word still masculine.^[2][3] Köbler dates it from Cato.^[5] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC and Cato 234–149 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It was the belly, seen from outside or as the seat of the digestive organs, the stomach and bowels, and in medicine the motion of the bowels and excrement.^[3][6] It was also the womb, as Accius' Maia who conceived in her pregnant belly.^[3] From its shape it was a beehive in Varro, the hull of a ship in Tacitus, and any hollow or cavity.^[3][2]

It was masculine in early writers from Plautus to Laberius and feminine later.^[2][3] Its derivative alveus “hollow, trough, riverbed” gave English alveolus, and English alvine “of the belly” was taken from it.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of the stomach.^[3][5]
• 170–c. 90 BC – Accius uses it of the womb.^[3][5]
• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of a beehive.^[3][5]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of a ship's hull.^[3][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The belly.^[3]
2. The stomach, bowels; the motion of the bowels.^[3][6]
3. The womb.^[3]
4. A beehive.^[3]
5. The hull of a ship.^[3]
6. A hollow, cavity.^[3]

Word family

• alvārium
• alvārius
• alveus

Related words

• alveārium
• alveātus
• alveolātus
• alveolus
• venter
• English alvine

Usage notes

Isidore defines it as the part that receives food and is purged, quoting Sallust.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).