occiput

Forms

occiput n (genitive occipitis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

The OLD analyses it as from Latin ob- + caput (“head”).^[2][1] The TLL, following Stolz and Leumann, takes it rather as a back-formation from Latin occipitium (“back of the head”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Persius (34–62 AD) is the first to use it, addressing those who must live with an “eyeless back of the head” and telling them to face the mockery behind them.^[3][4][5]

Semantic evolution

The word stayed rare beside occipitium.^[4] Ausonius tells Opportunity occipiti calvo es, “you are bald at the back of the head”, and Paulinus of Nola repeats the image.^[3] It appears in medicine with Caelius Aurelianus, and Sidonius Apollinaris writes of a shaven back of the head.^[3] Glossaries render it with the Old English word for the neck.^[3]

Timeline

• 34–62 AD – Persius speaks of an “eyeless back of the head”.^[3][4][5]
• c. 310–394 AD – Ausonius pictures Opportunity as bald at the back.^[3][4][5]
• 5th century AD – Caelius Aurelianus mentions pain in the back of the head.^[3][5]
• c. 431–486 AD – Sidonius Apollinaris writes of a shaven back of the head.^[3][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The back of the head, the occiput.^[2][4][1]

Related words

• occipitium
• caput
• English occiput

Usage notes

Apart from the grammarians and glosses only the ablative occipiti is found, with -i throughout.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b 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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de