hira

Forms

hīra f (genitive hīrae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

The origin is unknown.^[2] The OLD compares haruspex,^[3] and Walde and Hofmann connected the two by assuming an older ⟨hēra⟩ that became hīra through a Sabellic or rustic sound change; de Vaan calls this ad hoc and gives no etymology.^[2][1] Wiktionary traces haruspex to Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰerH-.^[1] Solmsen held it to be a Sabine word.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Plautus,^[2][5] in the Curculio, where the plural means the bowels;^[6][7] Conte marks the reading there as an editor's conjecture.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The epitome of Festus explains it as the empty part of the gut, the jejunum;^[6][9] Macrobius has the same sense, glossed with Ancient Greek νῆστις (nêstis).^[9][7] Apuleius and Arnobius use it of the intestines in general.^[6][8] De Vaan lists hīllae “small intestine, sausage” as a derivative.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses the plural in the Curculio.^[6][5]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it of the intestines.^[8][5]
• 297–310 AD – Arnobius uses it.^[9][5]
• first half of the 5th century AD – Macrobius uses it of the jejunum.^[9][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. An intestine, gut.^[3][10]
2. The empty gut, the jejunum.^[9][7]
3. (plural) The bowels.^[6][7]

Word family

• hilla

Related words

• haruspex

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
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 c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Simpson, D. P. (1959), Cassell's New Latin Dictionary, London: Cassell