gibber

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈɡɪb.bɛr]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈd͡ʒib.ber]^[1]

Forms

gibber m (genitive gibberis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *gīfri- (“hump”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *geybʰ- (“bent, crooked”).^[2][1] Nussbaum explains it as an abstract noun in *-ri- beside an adjective *gīfro- “hump-backed”.^[2] Possible cognates are Lithuanian geibùs (“gawky, plump”), Lithuanian geĩbti (“to become weak”) and Norwegian dialect keiv (“slanted; left hand”), but the meanings differ and de Vaan calls the etymology very uncertain.^[2][3] Latin ⟨gibb-⟩ can continue *gīb-, an alternation found in many words for bodily defects.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Lucilius.^[2][4] Köbler dates Lucilius c. 180–102 BC.^[4]

Semantic evolution

As a noun it meant a hump, as in Pliny the Elder and Apuleius.^[3][5] The adjective gibber meant hump-backed, of people, as Suetonius' description of the emperor Galba, of animals, as Varro's cattle that should not be hump-backed, and of things deformed by a swelling, as the tragic actors' mask with a raised head in Varro.^[3][6] Juvenal has the noun gibbus “hump”.^[2]

In Medieval Latin it was a hunchback, or a swelling on the front of the body.^[7] English gibbous comes from gibbus, recorded about 1400.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius uses it.^[2][4]
• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of hump-backed cattle.^[3][4]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of a hump.^[5][4]
• c. 1400 – English gibbous is recorded.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A hump.^[3][5]

Adjective

1. Humpbacked.^[3]
2. (of things) Deformed by a swelling.^[3]

Word family

• gibberōsus

Related words

• gibbus
• English gibbous

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com