coma

Forms

coma f (genitive comae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek κόμη (kómē, “hair of the head”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]} The further origin of the Greek word is unknown.^[6][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler finds it first in Ennius,^[5] who has comīs passīs, with hair let loose;^[2] Pacuvius describes hair that is long, uncombed, matted and rough.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It was above all the hair of the head, often as an ornament,^[2][3] and Festus defines comae as hair arranged with some care.^[3] Cicero has calamistrata coma, hair curled with the iron, but the word is very rare in him and belongs mostly to poetry and post-Augustan prose.^[3] It was used of a lion's mane, the snakes of the Furies, the plumes of a helmet and, in Accius, the golden fleece of a lamb.^[2][3] Poets made it the “hair” of the earth and of trees: in Catullus a coma of leaves often whispers, and Horace has grass returning to the fields and leaves (comae) to the trees.^[2] It also named the awns and tufts of plants and the heads of flowers, and anything resembling hair: wisps of cloud, the tail of a comet in Seneca, and rays of flame or lightning.^[2][7]

In medieval Latin the cutting or laying down of the hair (coma) marked entry into the clergy or a monastery, and church rules governed the hair of clerics.^[8] Writers used it for the tail of a comet,^[9][8] and in music for the stem of a note.^[8] English took it as a botanical term in the 1660s and for the hazy head of a comet in 1765.^[6]

Timeline

• 204–169 BC – Ennius writes of loosened hair.^[2][5]
• 220–130 BC – Pacuvius describes long, matted hair.^[2][5]
• 170–c. 90 BC – Accius uses it of the golden fleece.^[2][3][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of curled hair.^[3][10][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a lion's mane.^[2][5]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of the tail of a comet.^[2][5]
• 1660s – English takes it as a botanical term.^[6]
• 1765 – English uses it for the envelope round the head of a comet.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. The hair of the head; a lock of hair.^[2][3][1]
2. The mane of an animal; the plume of a helmet.^[2][3]
3. Fleece, wool.^[2][7]
4. Foliage, leaves; the tuft or awn of plants; the heads of flowers.^[2][3][1]
5. Something resembling hair: wisps of cloud, the tail of a comet, rays of flame or light.^{[2][7][10][9]}
6. (Medieval Latin, music) The stem of a note.^[8]

Word family

• bicomis
• comans
• comātōrius
• comōsus
• comula
• albicomus
• alticomus
• anguicomus
• auricomus
• flammicomus
• flōricomus
• comātus

Related words

• comētēs
• English comet

Usage notes

The MLW has a separate neuter coma, genitive comatos, from Ancient Greek κῶμα (kôma, “deep sleep”), meaning sleep or lethargy in the Latin Paul of Aegina and in Constantine the African;^[8][5] English coma “prolonged unconsciousness” (1640s) comes from the Latinized form of the Greek word.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b c d e Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
9. ^ a b 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 Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.