Etymologically
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nodus

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈnoː.dʊs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈnɔː.dus][1]

Forms

nōdus m (genitive nōdī); second declension[1]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.[2][1] De Vaan gives possible pre-forms Proto-Indo-European *nōdo- or *neh₃do- (“knot”), related to Old Norse nót (“net”), but considers a loanword just as possible, and compares nassa “fish-trap”.[2]

Köbler and Etymonline derive it from Proto-Indo-European *ned- (“to bind, tie”),[3][4] and another view takes it from *gned- “to bind”, making it cognate with English knot.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Livius Andronicus onwards.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

It first meant a knot tied in a cord.[5] It was also used of ropes and fetters, of hair tied in a knot, of a girdle, and of the coils of a snake, as in Virgil and Horace.[5][6] Figuratively it meant a knotty problem, as Cicero's “the great knot in the state is lack of money”, and a bond or tie.[5]

It meant a knot or node in wood or in the stem of a plant, and the proverb nodum in scirpo quaerere, “to look for a knot in a bulrush”, meant to look for difficulties where there were none.[5][1] In astronomy it was a point where the ecliptic crosses the equator.[5] Proto-Romance *ˈnodu gave Romanian nod, Italian nodo, Spanish nudo and Portuguese nó.[7][1] English borrowed node in the early 15th century, first for a lump in the flesh, and noose perhaps comes from it through Old French or Provençal.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 280/260 – before 200 BC – Livius Andronicus uses it.[2][3]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a difficulty.[5][3]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of knots, fetters and snake coils.[5][3]
  • early 15th century – English node is borrowed from it.[4]
  • 1660s – English node is used of a point of intersection in astronomy.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A knot.[5][1]
  2. A rope, fetter, girdle.[5][6]
  3. A knot of hair.[5][6]
  4. A coil (of a snake).[5]
  5. (figurative) A difficulty, crux.[5][1]
  6. A bond, tie; an obligation.[5][1]
  7. (astronomy) A point of intersection, node.[5]
  8. A knot in wood, a node in a stem.[5][1]
  9. (plural) A knotted fishing net.[1][3]

Word family

  • ēnōdis
  • nōdō
  • nōdōsus
  • nōdulus
  • renodis
  • trinōdis
  • centinodius
  • crēbrinōdus
  • multinōdus
  • internōdium
  • nōdōsē
  • nōdōsitās
  • nexus
  • nassa
  • English node
  • English noose

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom