Etymologically
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armilla

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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

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