Etymologically
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nervus

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈnɛr.wʊs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈnɛr.vus][1]

Forms

nervus m (genitive nervī); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *(s)nēuro-, a thematized form of Proto-Indo-European *snéh₁wr̥ (“sinew”).[2][1] De Vaan explains the word from *neuros by metathesis, as in parvus beside Greek παῦρος.[2][3] Cognate with Ancient Greek νεῦρον (neûron, “sinew, cord”), Sanskrit स्नावन् (snā́van, “sinew”), Old Armenian նեարդ (neard, “sinew”) and Tocharian B ṣñaura (“sinews”).[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from the Twelve Tables, which allow a debtor to be bound “with a nervus or with fetters” of fifteen pounds.[2][5][6] Köbler dates the Twelve Tables to about 450 BC.[6]

Semantic evolution

It was a sinew or tendon, and in Cicero the sinews that hold the limbs together; cutting the nervī meant hamstringing.[5][3] Tendons were used as a material, for cords and the bowstring, for the cord of a catapult, and for the strings of a lyre.[5][7] The nervus of the Twelve Tables was a shackle for the feet or neck of prisoners.[5] In Horace and Juvenal it meant the penis.[7]

In the plural it came to mean what gives strength, as when Cicero calls revenues the nervī of the state, a person's vigour, and a state's power or resources.[5] In medieval medicine it was the nerve in the modern sense, with the optic and auditory nerves named.[8] English nerve came in the late 14th century, first for a sinew.[9] It lives on in Italian nervo, French nerf and Spanish nervio.[1]

Timeline

  • c. 450 BC – the Twelve Tables speak of binding a debtor with a nervus.[5][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero calls revenues the sinews of the state.[5][6]
  • late 14th century – English nerve is recorded, first for a sinew.[9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A sinew, tendon, muscle.[5]
  2. Tendon as a material; a cord, a bowstring, a string (of an instrument).[5]
  3. A shackle for prisoners.[5]
  4. (plural) What gives strength, the sinews (of a thing).[5]
  5. (plural) Physical strength, vigour.[5]
  6. (plural) Power, resources.[5]
  7. The penis.[7]
  8. (Medieval Latin) A nerve.[8]

Word family

  • ēnervis
  • nervālis
  • nerviceus
  • nervicus
  • nervīnus
  • nervōsus
  • nervulus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ 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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  8. ^ 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
  9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com