Etymologically
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iuba

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈjʊ.ba][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈjuː.ba][1]

Forms

iuba f (genitive iubae); first declension[1]

Etymology

De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *juþā and Proto-Indo-European *(H)yudʰ-h₂- (“that which moves”).[2] Walde and Hofmann derived it from the root of iubeō (“to order”) as “moving to and fro”, and Leumann as “shaking”;[2][3][1] Ernout and Meillet rejected this, but de Vaan accepts it for the time being, since there is no better etymology.[2][3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Ennius,[2] whose Annals have a horse that often tosses its mane.[4]

Semantic evolution

It is the flowing hair on an animal's neck, the mane, as of horses and lions, and in poetry the part of the neck where it grows.[4][5] It is also the crest or plume of a helmet, usually of horsehair, as Virgil's Greek crests.[4][5] It is used of things that look like a mane: the neck feathers of a bird in Columella, the barbels of mullets in Juvenal, and in Pliny the Elder the foliage of trees, the heads of a millet and the tail of a comet.[4][5]

Timeline

  • 204–169 BC – Ennius of a horse's mane.[4][2][6]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of helmet crests.[4][6]
  • 1st century AD – Columella of a cock's neck feathers.[4][6]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of foliage and of a comet's tail.[4][6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A mane.[4][5][1]
  2. A crest, plume of a helmet.[4][5][1]
  3. Neck feathers; the barbels of a fish; foliage; the tail of a comet.[4][5][1]

Word family

  • iubātus

Usage notes

Iuba was also the name of two kings: the Numidian king who sided with Pompey in the civil war, and his son, made king of Mauretania by Augustus and known for his learning;[4][5][6] Köbler thinks the name may be Numidian.[4][5][6] Terentianus Maurus notes the consonantal i of the word.[3]

References

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