isthmus

Forms

isthmus m (genitive isthmī); second declension^[1] Also written isthmos, with the Greek ending.^[2][3] Apuleius treats it as feminine.^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ἰσθμός (isthmós, “narrow passage, neck of land”).^[1][4][2][5] The Greek word has been derived from εἶμι (eîmi, “to go”) with a suffix ⟨-θμο-⟩, by comparison with by-forms such as ἴθμα (íthma);^[6] Etymonline calls the Greek word of unknown origin and gives this derivation only as a possibility.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero uses it in De fato,^[3] and Caesar names the Isthmus of Corinth in the Civil War.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The word mostly named the Isthmus of Corinth, where the Isthmian Games were held,^[2][4] but also other necks of land, such as the one joining the peninsula of Cyzicus to the mainland,^[4] and, in Pomponius Mela, any strip of land between two seas.^[2] Propertius uses it of a strait.^[3] English borrowed it in the 1550s.^[7]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it in De fato.^[3][5]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar names the Isthmus of Corinth in the Civil War.^[2][4][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of the Isthmus of Corinth.^[2][4]
• 57/46–12 BC – Propertius uses it of a strait.^[3]
• 43/44 AD – Pomponius Mela uses it of a strip of land between two seas in general.^[2]
• 1550s – Borrowed into English as isthmus.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A narrow strip of land between two seas, an isthmus.^[2][3][1]
2. (capitalised) The Isthmus of Corinth.^[2][4][3]
3. (poetic) A strait.^[3][1]

Related words

• English isthmus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
4. ^ a b c d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com