glans

Forms

glāns f (genitive glandis); third declension^[1] Varro and Celsus have a nominative singular glās.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *gʷland(i)-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *gʷlh₂-n-d(h)-(i)- (“acorn”).^[3] It is cognate with Ancient Greek βάλανος (bálanos, “acorn”) and with Armenian and Slavic words for the acorn;^[3][2][4] de Vaan notes that only Slavic shares the dental of the suffix.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from the Twelve Tables;^[5] in Plautus someone is to bring out acorns for the oxen's lunch.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

It is the fruit of oaks and other mast-bearing trees, acorns and beechmast, and in Gaius' definition any tree fruit, after the Greek word for fruit trees in general.^[2] From the shape it named the lead or clay bullet thrown from a sling: Lucretius says a lead sling-bullet melts as it whirls.^[2] Celsus uses it of the glans of the penis.^[2] In New Latin it was also a gun bullet.^[1]

Church Latin has it for acorn,^[7] and Medieval Latin also for an oak coppice.^[8] English gland (1690s) is from its diminutive glandula through French, and the anatomical glans (1640s) is the word itself.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 450 BC – The Twelve Tables.^[5]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of acorns for oxen.^[2][5]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius of a sling-bullet.^[2][5]
• 14–37 AD – Celsus of the glans penis.^[2][5]
• 1640s – English glans.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. An acorn; beechmast, chestnut or other acorn-shaped fruit; any tree fruit.^[2][6][1][7]
2. A sling bullet of lead or clay.^[2][1]
3. (anatomy) The glans penis.^[2][1]
4. (New Latin) A bullet.^[1]
5. (Medieval Latin) An oak coppice.^[8]

Word family

• glandārius
• glandium
• glandula
• iūglāns

Related words

• English gland
• English glans

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ 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
4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com