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iambus

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word iambus

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
81–43 BC, Cicero
Borrowed from
Ancient Greek ἴαμβος
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek (ἴαμβος)

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [iˈam.bʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [iˈam.bus][1]

Forms

ïambus m (genitive ïambī); second declension[1] Also iambos, with the Greek ending.[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ἴαμβος (íambos, “iambus”),[2][3][1][4] a Greek word whose origin Köbler calls unexplained and perhaps not Indo-European.[4] Latin grammarians explained it either from Iambe, daughter of Celeus, as Sacerdos says, or from the Greek verb for reviling, as Diomedes and Marius Victorinus do.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero,[4] who reports in De Oratore that Aristotle keeps the iambus and the trochee from the orator.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is the metrical foot of a short syllable followed by a long, and Horace and Quintilian discuss it.[2][3] It is also the iambic trimeter, as in Terentianus Maurus, and an iambic poem, especially invective: Cicero speaks of one wounded by the iambus of Hipponax or the verse of Archilochus, and Catullus warns that someone will not escape his iambics.[2][3] English iambus was used in the 1580s;[6] iamb (1842) came from French iambe or directly from Latin.[6]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of the metrical foot.[2][4]
  • 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus of invective iambics.[2]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace of the foot.[3]
  • 1580s – English iambus.[6]
  • 1842 – English iamb.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. An iamb, iambus, a foot of one short and one long syllable.[2][3][1]
  2. An iambic trimeter;[2][3][1] (plural) iambic poems, especially invective.[2][3][1]
  • English iamb

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  6. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Iambus.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/iambus. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·