naris

Forms

nāris f (genitive nāris); third declension^[1] It is usually plural, nārēs, nārium.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *nās- (“nose”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *Hneh₂-s- (“nose”), made an i-stem in Latin beside the o-stem nāsus (“nose”);^[4][1] the ⟨r⟩ is from ⟨s⟩ between vowels.^[1] De Vaan notes that the word was often used in the dual, “the nostrils”.^[4] Cognate with Sanskrit नासा (nā́sā, “the nose, nostrils”) and Lithuanian nósis (“nose”).^[4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,^[4] who has “a winey breeze touched my nostrils” in the Cistellaria;^[2][5] Köbler gives Ennius, who has a beast that scents game with its keen nose.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

In the singular, mostly in poets, it is the nose, and in the plural the nostrils or nose, as Ennius' horses breathing out light from raised nostrils.^[2][3][1] It is the nose as the organ of smell, and as the seat of discernment: Horace's Lucilius is ēmūnctae nāris, “of keen nose”, that is, sharp-witted.^[2][3] It is the nose that shows scorn or anger, as Persius' snarling dog's letter that sounds from the nose.^[2] In the plural it is also a vent or opening, as in Vitruvius.^[2][1]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a winey breeze in the nostrils.^[2][4][5]
• 204–169 BC – Ennius of horses' nostrils and a keen nose.^[2][5]
• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius of vents in a channel.^[2][5]
• 65–8 BC – Horace of a keen nose for faults.^[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (plural) The nostrils, nose;^[2][3][1] (singular) the nose, a nostril.^[2][3]
2. The nose as the organ of smell.^[2]
3. The nose as a sign of discernment;^[2] ēmūnctae nāris, sharp-witted.^[2][3]
4. The nose as showing scorn or anger.^[2]
5. (plural) Openings, vents.^[2][1]

Word family

• nārinōsus
• nāriputēns

Related words

• nāsus
• nāsūtē
• nāsūtus
• English nose

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes nāsus, the outside of the nose as part of the face, from nārēs, its inside as the organ of smell.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f 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. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper