natis

Forms

natis f (genitive natis); third declension^[1] It is mostly used in the plural, natēs, natium.^[2][3] A genitive plural naterum in Lucilius is a doubtful reading.^[2]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.^[4][5] De Vaan's reconstruction is inherited from Proto-Italic *nati- (perhaps with an initial /g/ or /s/), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *nHt-.^[4] The word is usually compared with Ancient Greek νῶτον (nôton, “back”);^[4][2][3][1] de Vaan finds the link possible in meaning but formally uncertain, since both words stand isolated.^[4] Schrijver's explanation is a root noun *n(e)h₃t-, which Latin would have turned into an i-stem and Greek into an o-stem; a root with /h₂/ instead is also possible.^[4] Wiktionary gives an apparent *not- (“rear, buttock”) and also notes that the sounds do not match well.^[1] The TLL doubts that any suitable Indo-European root exists.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan records it from Plautus on;^[4] Lewis and Short's first plural example is from Plautus' Persa, nates pervellit “plucks at the buttocks”.^[3] Köbler and Conte cite a fragment of Ennius.^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

It always meant the buttocks, usually in the plural.^[2][3] The singular appears in the comic poet Pomponius, in Horace and in the Priapea;^[8] Juvenal has soleā pulsare natēs, “to beat the buttocks with a slipper”.^[3][7] Martial uses it of the rump of animals, the turtle-doves' natēs.^[3][8]

In British medieval Latin it kept the same sense, of people and of animals, and glossaries translate it as “a bottoke”.^[9] It survives in Italian natica.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses the plural natēs.^[4][3][6]
• 204–169 BC – Ennius has it in a fragment.^[6][7]
• 65–8 BC – Horace uses the singular.^[3][8][6]
• 40–102/103 AD – Martial uses it of animals' rumps.^[3][8][6]
• c. 67–c. 127 AD – Juvenal speaks of beating the buttocks with a slipper.^[3][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A buttock;^[2][3][8] (usually plural) the buttocks, the rump.^[2][3][8]
2. The rump of an animal.^[3][8][9]

Word family

• internatium

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
9. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press