bracchiale

Forms

bracchiāle n (genitive bracchiālis); third declension^[1] Also spelled brāchiāle.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin bracchiālis (“of the arm”), used as a noun,^[2][1] from bracchium (“arm”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pliny the Elder has it in the Natural History, where things are to be worn enclosed in a silver bracelet.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

The grammarian Priscian notes that the armillae (armlets) of old were in his day called brachialia.^[4] In medieval Latin it kept the sense of a bracelet and also came to mean the sleeve of a garment.^[6][7]

The TLL lists Italian bracciale and Spanish brazal among its Romance descendants.^[4]

Timeline

• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder mentions things carried in a bracelet.^[4][5]
• 6th century AD – Priscian says armillae are now called brachialia.^[4][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A bracelet, armlet.^[2][3][8]
2. (Medieval Latin) A sleeve.^[6][7]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
4. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ a b du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson