matrix

Forms

mātrīx f (genitive mātrīcis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin māter + -ix.^[1][2] The OLD suggests that the ending may have been taken from nūtrīx (“nurse”),^[3] and the TLL compares genetrīx and similar words.^[4] Its base goes back to Proto-Italic *mātēr and Proto-Indo-European *méh₂-tr- (“mother”).^[2]

Ancient grammarians explained it from the womb: Isidore says it is so called because the foetus is produced in it.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Varro on, of breeding animals: in his work on farming he speaks of keeping bulls for 72 breeding cows.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

In classical Latin it was a female kept for breeding, of cows, ewes and laying hens,^[5][3] and of a parent tree.^[3] Lewis & Short say that in this literal sense it is not used of women, while the OLD notes that it was also applied to human beings.^[5][3] It also meant a public register or list.^[3][5]

Late Latin used it for the womb.^[5][1] Tertullian made it a source or origin, calling Eve matrix generis feminini, the mother of the female sex,^[5] and Ecclesiastical Latin kept that sense.^[6] In medieval Latin it was a mother church, a cathedral, the church of a large parish on which chapels depended, and a mother abbey.^[7] English took the word over for the womb in the late 14th century; its figurative and technical senses grew from the idea of what encloses or gives origin to something.^[8]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of breeding cows.^[3][9]
• 1st century AD – Columella uses it of breeding ewes and laying hens.^[5][9]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it of a parent tree.^[3][9]
• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it for a register and for a source or origin.^[5][9]
• c. 400 AD – Vegetius uses it for the womb.^[5][9]
• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore explains the word from the womb.^[4][9]
• late 14th century – English matrix “womb” is borrowed from Old French and Latin.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A female animal kept for breeding, a dam.^[3][5]
2. A parent tree or stem.^[3][5]
3. A public register, list, roll.^[3][5][6]
4. (Late Latin) The womb, uterus.^[5][1]
5. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A source, origin.^[5][6][7]
6. (Medieval Latin) A mother church; a cathedral; a mother abbey.^[7]
7. (New Latin, mathematics) A matrix.^[1]

Word family

• mātrīcālis
• mātrīcula

Usage notes

An inscription uses it as a title of Venus.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de