faux
Etymology
The origin is unknown.[1][2] The OLD marks it doubtful.[3]
Earliest recorded meaning
De Vaan dates it from Plautus, who uses it of the throat, the pharynx.[1][3] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[2]
Semantic evolution
It was the upper part of the throat, and the throat as the passage of breath, the seat of the voice and the gullet; of beasts it meant the jaws, often figuratively, as when Cicero speaks of a city snatched from the jaws of war.[3] Celsus used it of the outside of the throat, the neck.[3]
From the throat it came to mean any narrow entrance or passage: the mouth of a harbour or river, as in Caesar, the entrance to a pass, the approach to a country, the porch of a building, a crater or cave mouth, the neck of a jar, a strait, an isthmus.[3] English borrowed fauces “throat, gullet” in the 1540s.[4]
Timeline
- c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of the throat.[3][2]
- c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it of the mouth of a harbour.[3][2]
- 1540s – English fauces is recorded.[4]
Meanings
Noun
- The upper throat, pharynx; the throat, gullet, (of beasts) the jaws.[3]
- The outside of the throat, neck.[3]
- A narrow entrance: the mouth of a harbour or river, the entrance of a pass, a porch, a crater.[3]
- A narrow passage: a strait, a defile, an isthmus.[3]
Word family
- fōcāle
- fōcāneus
- praefōcō
- suffōcō
Related words
- English fauces
Usage notes
The word is normally plural, faucēs; the singular appears only in the ablative fauce, and Varro remarks on its absence.[1][3]
References
- ^ 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com