iugum

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈjʊ.ɡũː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈjuː.ɡum]^[1]

Forms

iugum n (genitive iugī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *jugom, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *yugóm (“yoke”), from the root Proto-Indo-European *yewg- (“to yoke, join”) of iungō.^[1][2][3] Cognate with Sanskrit युग (yugá, “yoke”), Ancient Greek ζυγόν (zugón, “yoke”), Gothic 𐌾𐌿𐌺 (juk, “yoke”) and English yoke.^[1][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Ennius, whom he dates 204–169 BC.^[4] The OLD's first citations for the yoke are from Cato.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It meant a yoke for oxen or a collar for horses, as in Cato and Cicero, and a frame for carrying baskets.^[2][5] Figuratively it meant the yoke of slavery or subjection, as iugum accipere “to submit”, and of friendship or marriage.^[2] It meant a pair of draught animals, a team, a chariot, and a day's ploughing as a land measure.^[2] The iugum of two spears with a third across, under which a beaten army had to pass, appears in Livy.^[2]

It also meant a crossbeam, a rowers' bench, as in Virgil, the constellation Libra, and a mountain ridge, as in Accius and Caesar.^[2] Döderlein says mōns is a mountain by its height, iugum by its length and breadth, its ridge.^[6]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant a yoke, bond, slavery.^[7] It survives in Italian giogo, French joug and Romanian jug.^[1] English yoke itself is the inherited Old English cognate.^[3]

Timeline

• 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it.^[4]
• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of a yoke and of a team.^[2][4]
• 170–c. 90 BC – Accius uses it of a ridge.^[2][4]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of the yoke of defeat.^[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A yoke; a horse collar.^[2][5]
2. (figurative) The yoke of subjection; the bond of marriage.^[2]
3. A team, pair; a chariot.^[2]
4. A day's ploughing (a land measure).^[2]
5. The yoke of spears under which the defeated passed.^[2]
6. A crossbeam; a rowers' bench.^[2]
7. (astronomy) Libra.^[2]
8. A mountain ridge.^[2]

Word family

• bīga
• biiugus
• iugālis
• iugārius
• iugō
• iugōsus
• iugulum
• quadrīga
• quadriiugis
• quadriiugus
• trīga

Related words

• iugātiō
• Iugula
• iugulātiō
• iugulātor
• iugulō
• iugūmentō
• iugūmentum
• iugus
• iungō
• versus
• coniunx
• English yoke

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 k l m n o p q r s Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson