cingulum

Forms

cingulum n (genitive cingulī); second declension^[1] Besides the neuter there are a masculine cingulus and a feminine cingula;^[2] Isidore and Servius say the neuter is used of people and the feminine of animals.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin cingō (“to gird, surround”) + -ulum.^[3][1][4] The origin of cingō itself is uncertain: de Vaan doubts the comparison with Lithuanian kinkýti (“to bridle horses”), which would need a root that cannot be Proto-Indo-European.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Varro,^[5] who uses it of a girdle.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

It is a band put round something, a belt or girdle,^[3] at first mostly a woman's girdle; the bride's girdle was untied by her husband.^[2][6] In Virgil it is a sword belt, often gilded,^[3][2] and a horse's girth in Silius Italicus and a dog's collar in Petronius.^[3][7] Cicero has the masculine cingulus for a zone of the earth.^[2]

In Late Latin the belt was a badge of military and civil service, and so the word came to mean the service itself, as in the Codes of Theodosius and Justinian.^[6][7] Jerome uses it of a priest's girdle.^[6][7] Medieval Latin keeps the military and secular office,^[8] and medieval writers in Britain use it of the girdle among the priest's vestments and of a truss for a rupture.^[9] It lives on in French sangle and Spanish cincha,^[1] the source of English cinch, first recorded in 1859 for a saddle girth.^[10]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of a girdle.^[5][2][11]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses cingulus for a zone of the earth.^[2][11]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a sword belt.^[3][11]
• c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome uses it of a priest's girdle.^[6][11]
• 1859 – English cinch is borrowed from the Spanish descendant.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A belt or girdle, especially a woman's.^[3][2]
2. A sword belt.^[3][2]
3. A horse's girth; a dog's collar.^[3][7]
4. (masculine) A zone of the earth.^[2]
5. (Late Latin) Military or civil service.^[6][7]
6. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A priest's girdle, cincture.^[6][12]
7. (Medieval Latin) A military or secular office.^[8]

Word family

• succingulum
• cingillum

Related words

• cincticulus
• cinctōrium
• cinctūra
• cinctus
• cinctūtus
• cingō

Usage notes

A separate Cingulum was a hill town in Picenum, mentioned by Caesar and Cicero.^[2][6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
12. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson