clavicula

Forms

clāvicula f (genitive clāviculae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin clāvis (“key”) + -cula (“diminutive suffix”), so literally “little key”.^[2][1][3] The base clāvis goes back to Proto-Italic *klāwi- (“bar, bolt”) and Proto-Indo-European *kleh₂u- (“to close”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its earliest secure use is in Cicero's De senectute, where it names the tendrils with which a vine clings to whatever it finds, so as to lift itself up.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Besides the vine's tendrils, Germanicus' version of Aratus uses it for a key,^[2][5] and Vitruvius for a part of a machine that the OLD takes to be a pivot.^[2] In Hyginus' treatise on fortifying camps it names a curved earthwork protecting a gate, according to Georges and Conte,^[6][5] while Lewis & Short read it there as the bar or bolt of a door.^[7] Jerome uses the plural for the small keys proper to each room.^[3]

Medieval Latin kept the sense “little key”,^[8][9] and the MLW also records anatomical uses for small bones such as the ankle bone.^[8] The modern sense “collarbone” came from Medieval Latin anatomy and passed through French into English as clavicle.^[10][1]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it for the tendrils of a vine.^[2][4]
• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it, apparently for a pivot in a machine.^[2][4]
• 1st century AD – Germanicus uses it for a key.^[2][4]
• c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome speaks of the small keys of each room.^[3][4]
• 1610s – English takes clavicle “collarbone” from French clavicule, from the Medieval Latin anatomical sense.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small key.^[2][7]
2. The tendril of a vine.^[2][7]
3. Apparently a pivot in a machine.^[2]
4. A curved earthwork protecting the gate of a camp.^[6][5]
5. (Medieval Latin, anatomy) A small bone, such as the ankle bone.^[8]
6. (New Latin, anatomy) The clavicle, collarbone.^[1]

Word family

• clāviculārius

Related words

• clāvicārius

Usage notes

The OLD lists a separate, rarer clāvicula “rod, bar”, formed from clāva “club”;^[2] the TLL cites it from Apuleius, who speaks of an iron rod used to beat a parrot's head.^[3] Niermeyer records a medieval clavicula “nail”, from clāvus.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
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. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill