manubrium

Forms

manubrium n (genitive manubriī or manubrī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin manus (“hand”), with a suffix whose form is unclear.^[2][3] Wiktionary takes the ending as a variant of -brum.^[1] De Vaan thinks it may continue *manu-habro- (“held by hand”), made like the adjective that perhaps underlies ēnubrō, though he calls its derivation from habeō (“to have, hold”) uncertain.^[4] Varro already derived it from the hand, and Cassiodorus, following Eutyches, explained it as ⟨manuhaberium⟩.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Plautus,^[5] who has the proverb that the hammer is wiser than the handle, malleum sapientiōrem esse manubriō, and the phrase eximere ex manū manubrium, “to take the handle out of someone's hand”.^[6]

Semantic evolution

It means a handle, haft or hilt, also spelled manibrium:^[2][6] Cicero describes a hollowed ladle with a golden handle, Columella says the best tool handles are of holm oak, Vitruvius uses it for the handles of taps, and Juvenal for the handles of knives.^[6] Plautus' phrase about taking the handle out of someone's hand meant depriving them of the chance to do something.^[6]

In medieval Latin it was also a measure, the palm.^[7] English took manubrium by 1744 in mechanics, and later in anatomy and zoology for a handle-shaped part.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it in proverbial phrases.^[6][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero mentions a ladle with a golden handle.^[6][5]
• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it for the handles of taps.^[6][5]
• 1st century AD – Columella uses it for the handles of tools.^[6][5]
• c. 67–c. 127 AD – Juvenal uses it for knife handles.^[6][5]
• by 1744 – English borrows it as manubrium, first in mechanics.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A handle, haft, hilt.^[2][6]
2. (Medieval Latin) A palm (as a measure).^[7]

Word family

• manubriatus
• manubriolum

Related words

• English manubrium

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com