cingulum
Pronunciation
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
- A belt or girdle, especially a woman's.[3][2]
- A sword belt.[3][2]
- A horse's girth; a dog's collar.[3][7]
- (masculine) A zone of the earth.[2]
- (Late Latin) Military or civil service.[6][7]
- (Ecclesiastical Latin) A priest's girdle, cincture.[6][12]
- (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
- ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
- ^ 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
- ^ 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
- ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
- ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
- ^ 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
- ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
- ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson