Etymologically
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iecur

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈjɛ.kʊr][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈjɛː.kur][1]

Forms

iecur n (genitive iecinoris or iecoris); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *jekʷor, oblique stem *jekʷen-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *Hyékʷr̥ (“liver”).[2][1] Cognate with Sanskrit यकृत् (yákṛt), Avestan yākarə, Ancient Greek ἧπαρ (hêpar), Persian جگر (jegar) and Old Church Slavonic икра (ikra, “roe”).[2][1][3] The forms with ⟨io⟩, as iocineris, appear in the long forms, before the stress, and de Vaan explains them as a sound change there.[2] The Appendix Probi corrects iocur to iecur.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus, whose character complains that his liver is in torment.[2][3] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant the liver, which Cicero lists with the brain, heart and lungs as the seats of life, the liver of a victim inspected by the haruspices, and the liver as food, as Horace's liver of a white goose fattened on figs.[3][6] Poets made it the seat of the passions, of anger and of love.[3][7] The genitive was iecoris or iecinoris, and iocineris.[3]

In Medieval Latin it was still the ordinary word for the liver.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus speaks of a tormented liver.[3][5]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato gives a remedy for pains of the liver.[3][5]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace makes the liver the seat of anger.[3][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The liver.[3]
  2. The liver as food.[3]
  3. The liver as the seat of the passions.[3]

Word family

  • iecinerōsus
  • iecorālis
  • iecorīnus
  • iecoriticus
  • iecorōsus
  • iecusculum
  • fīcātum
  • English hepatic

References

  1. ^ a b c d e 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 c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ Appendix Probi, a late antique list of correct and censured Latin word forms ("calida non calda"); ed. H. Keil, Grammatici Latini IV, Leipzig 1864, 197–199.
  5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  8. ^ 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