Etymologically
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natis

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈna.tɪs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈnaː.tis][1]

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