cranium

Forms

crānium n (genitive crāniī or crānī); second declension^[1] Medieval texts also have craneum.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek κρανίον (kraníon, “skull, upper part of the head”).^[1][3][4] Köbler and Etymonline relate the Greek word to Proto-Indo-European *ḱer- (“horn; head”).^[5][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Wiktionary dates its earliest attestation to about 1190;^[1] Köbler's first source is a Latin version of Paul of Aegina, which he dates to the 7th century.^[5] It means the skull.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

It is a Medieval Latin anatomical word for the human skull.^[2][3] Adelard of Bath glosses it with testa, the ordinary word, and William FitzStephen uses it in his life of Thomas Becket, of the archbishop's skull covered with linen.^[3] Roger Bacon writes of the nerves of sight descending from the membranes of the brain and the skin of the cranium.^[3]

English borrowed it in the early 15th century, first as craneum.^[4]

Timeline

• 7th century – A Latin Paul of Aegina has it.^[5]
• c. 1190 – Earliest attestation according to Wiktionary.^[1]
• early 15th century – Borrowed into English as cranium.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Medieval Latin, anatomy) The skull, cranium.^[2][3][1]

Related words

• testa
• English cranium

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
3. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de