ibex

Pronunciation

• Classical: [ˈiː.bɛks]^[1]
• Ecclesiastical: [ˈiː.beks]^[1]

Forms

ībex m (genitive ībicis); third declension^[1] Variant spellings include ⟨ibix⟩, ⟨hibex⟩, ⟨hybex⟩, ⟨ybex⟩ and ⟨ivex⟩.^[2][3] Georges records ⟨ibix⟩ in a manuscript of the Vulgate.^[4]

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain.^[1] The OLD calls it a foreign loanword, and the TLL thinks it is perhaps of foreign origin.^[5][6] Wiktionary and Etymonline suggest that it comes from a pre-Latin language spoken in the Alps, where the animal is native;^[1][7] Köbler takes that language to be Indo-European.^[2] If it was, Wiktionary suggests a source in Proto-Indo-European *(h₁)ebʰ- (“climbing”), and it also mentions a possible Iberian or Aquitanian origin.^[1] Walde connected it, perhaps as a loanword, with Old Indic words meaning “to mate”, the name of the mounting buck being narrowed to the ibex.^[8]

Isidore of Seville explained ⟨ibicēs⟩ as if ⟨avicēs⟩, from avis (“bird”), because like birds they keep to steep and lofty places.^[6][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pliny the Elder is its first author: among the many kinds of goats he names the ibexes, ibicēs pernīcitātis mīrandae, “of wonderful swiftness”, though their heads are weighed down by huge horns.^{[5][6][10][2]}

Semantic evolution

The Vulgate has it in the books of Kings, of very steep rocks that only ibexes can cross, and in Job.^[6][10][4] Gregory the Great says that the eastern and western regions give this name to small four-footed animals,^[6] and Polemius Silvius' list of animal names has ⟨ibix⟩ beside ⟨camox⟩, the chamois.^[6] The glossaries render it by Ancient Greek αἴγαγρος (aígagros, “wild goat”).^[6][11]

Medieval writers kept the word for the wild goats of the mountains.^[3][12] Aldhelm names ibexes among other animals, and Bede describes them as small four-footed beasts that live and bear young only among rocks and, when they fall from high crags, land unhurt on their horns.^[13] An Old English gloss renders it firgengaet.^[13][2] Benzo writes of the high Alps held by ibexes, and Albertus Magnus of the wild goat “which we call ibex”.^[3] The chronicle of Novalesa counts ibexes among the wild animals of the mountains, with bears and roe deer,^[14] and Roger Bacon took it for a kind of deer.^[13] Wiktionary lists Spanish rebeco and Galician rebezo among the words reshaped from it.^[1] English took ibex from it about 1600.^[7]

Timeline

• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder describes the swift ibexes with their huge horns.^[5][2]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate speaks of rocks that only ibexes can cross.^[6][2]
• 540–604 AD – Gregory the Great says the name is given to small four-footed animals.^[6][2]
• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville explains the name as if from ⟨avis⟩.^[6][2]
• 639–709 AD – Aldhelm names ibexes among other animals.^[13][2]
• 13th century – Albertus Magnus uses it for the wild goat.^[3][2]
• c. 1600 – English borrows ibex.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. An ibex, a wild mountain goat.^{[5][4][15][16][12]}
2. The chamois.^[10][1][17]

Related words

• English ibex

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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
3. ^ a b c d Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Walde, Alois (1906), Lateinisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
9. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
10. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Goetz, Georg (1888–1923), Corpus glossariorum Latinorum, Leipzig: Teubner; vols. VI–VII Thesaurus glossarum emendatarum, digital ed. CGLO, Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
12. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
13. ^ a b c d 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
14. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
15. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
16. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
17. ^ Latinitatis medii aevi lexicon Bohemorum / Slovník středověké latiny v českých zemích (1977–), Prague: Academia; electronic version, Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences