os

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈoːs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈɔs]^[1]

Forms

ōs n (genitive ōris); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *ōs- (“mouth”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₃éh₁os (“mouth”).^[2][1] Cognate with Old Irish á (“mouth”), Hittite aiš (“mouth”), Sanskrit आस् (ā́s, “mouth”) and Old English ōr (“beginning”).^[2][3][1][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Livius Andronicus.^[2] Köbler dates his career to before 200 BC.^[5] Ennius and Plautus use it of the mouth.^[6][3]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense was the mouth of a person or animal, and so speech and the voice.^[3][1] By extension it was the head or face, the countenance and appearance.^[1][7] It also meant any opening, entrance or orifice, the beak of a ship and the edge of a sword.^[1][8]

Isidore says the mouth is named as if a door (ōstium), through which we put food in and spit out.^[9] Its derivatives include ōsculum “kiss” and ōstium “door, mouth”.^[2] Late Latin ōrālis gave English oral in the 1620s.^[4]

Timeline

• before 200 BC – Livius Andronicus uses it.^[2][5]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus says “snatch the pipes from his mouth”.^[3][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the mouth as an organ of the senses.^[6][5]
• 1620s – English oral is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The mouth.^[3]
2. Speech, voice.^[1]
3. The face, countenance, appearance.^[1][7]
4. An opening, entrance, orifice.^[1]
5. The beak of a ship; the edge of a sword.^[1][8]

Word family

• ōrārium
• ōreae
• ōrificium
• ōscillum
• ōsculum

Related words

• cōram
• ōrō
• ōstium
• English oral
• English oracle
• English orifice

Usage notes

A different noun Latin os, ossis meant a bone, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃ésth₁, already in the Twelve Tables.^[2][3][1] Isidore notes that ōs “face” and os “bone” were both written without h.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ a b Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).