camur

Forms

camur (feminine camura, neuter camurum); first/second-declension adjective (nominative masculine singular in -ur)^[1] Also camurus.^[2][3] The nominative camur is found in Isidore of Seville.^[4][5]

Etymology

Its origin is disputed.^[2][1][6] Wiktionary takes it as inherited from Proto-Italic *kameros, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂em- (“to bend, curve”), comparing campus for the root.^[1] Pokorny and Köbler connect it with Proto-Indo-European *kamer- (“to vault, bend”).^[6][7] The OLD suggests Ancient Greek καμάρα (kamára, “vault”),^[2] and Lewis & Short and Georges relate it to κάμπτω (kámptō, “to bend”).^[8][4] Macrobius called it a foreign word.^[8]

Servius explains Virgil's ⟨camurīs⟩ as “curved”, the source of the name of vaults, camera.^[8] Through Old French cambre it is the source of English camber.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in Virgil's Georgics 3.55: camurīs hirtae sub cornibus aurēs, “shaggy ears beneath curving horns”.^[2][8][7]

Semantic evolution

It is a very rare word, used of horns that curve inwards.^[2][8] Prudentius speaks of camurī arcūs, vaults.^[4][5] An English word list, the Catholicon Anglicum, glosses it “crooked” and uses it as a noun for a curve.^[3]

Timeline

• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of horns.^[2][7]
• 348/49–c. 413 AD – Prudentius uses it of vaults.^[4][7]
• 1610s – English camber is first recorded, from Old French cambre.^[9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. curved or arched inwards (of horns); having such horns.^[2][8]
2. arched, vaulted.^[4][5]
3. (Medieval Latin) crooked.^[3]

Related words

• camera
• English camber

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c 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
4. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ a b Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com