armilla

Forms

armilla f (genitive armillae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin armus (“shoulder, upper arm”) + -illa,^[2][3][4] as Festus already said;^[5][1] Priscian derived it instead from arma (“arms”).^[5][1] De Vaan traces armus to Proto-Italic *ar(a)mo- and Proto-Indo-European *h₂(e)rH-mo- (“arm”).^[6] Cognate with Sanskrit ईर्म (īrmá-, “arm, shoulder”), Old Prussian irmo (“arm”) and Old High German aram (“arm”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found first in Plautus,^[6][7] who asks a woman whether she thinks herself pretty because she has been given bronze bracelets: an eō bella es, quia accēpistī tibi armillās aēneās?^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is an arm-band or bracelet,^[2][5] worn by women, as in Plautus, Ovid and Petronius,^[2] and by men: Livy says that the Sabines wore heavy gold bracelets on the left arm,^[2][4] and bracelets were given to soldiers as rewards for bravery.^[5][4] Suetonius mentions a snake's slough enclosed in a gold bracelet and worn on the right arm as a charm.^[2] In Cato and Vitruvius it is a metal hoop, ring or washer in machinery.^[2][5] The Vulgate uses it of bracelets in Genesis, Isaiah and Ezekiel.^[5] Medieval writers in Britain used it also for the bracelets of a coronation, a book-clasp, a ring for hanging something, and the armillary sphere of astronomers.^[8] English took armilla in 1706.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of bronze bracelets.^[2][7]
• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of metal rings.^[2][7]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of the gold bracelets of the Sabines and of soldiers' rewards.^[2][5][7]
• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of a ring in machinery.^[2][7]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it in Genesis.^[5][7]
• 1706 – Borrowed into English as armilla.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. An arm-band, bracelet, armlet, worn by women and men and given as a military reward.^[2][5][4]
2. A metal hoop, ring, washer or socket.^[2][5]
3. (Medieval Latin) A coronation bracelet; a book-clasp; a ring for hanging; the armillary sphere.^[8]

Word family

• armillātus

Related words

• armus
• English armilla

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com