pecten

Forms

pecten m (genitive pectinis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *petken- (“comb”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *p(e)tḱ-en-, a noun beside the verb pectō “to comb”.^[2][3] De Vaan compares Ancient Greek κτείς (kteís, “comb”) and Sanskrit पक्ष्मन् (pákṣman-, “eyelash”).^[2] Varro explained it as that by which the hair is unravelled, and Priscian derived it from combing.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,^[2] in whose Captivi someone wonders whether a man will be shorn close or through the comb.^[3] Ennius uses it of the scallop of Mytilene.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

It is first a comb for the hair, and a currycomb.^[3] It is used of many things like a comb: the reed of a loom, as in Virgil's weaver running the comb through the web; the plectrum of a lyre, and so the lyre itself; a rake; and a comb for gathering ears of grain at harvest, in Columella.^[3][6] Celsus calls the pubic bone by this name, Pliny the Elder the comb-like grain of beechwood, and Ovid uses it of fingers interlaced.^[3] It is also the scallop.^[3] Wiktionary adds pubic hair and a poem or song.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a comb.^[3][2][5]
• 204–169 BC – Ennius of the scallop.^[3][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil of a weaver's reed and of a plectrum.^[3][6][5]
• 14–37 AD – Celsus of the pubic bone.^[3][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A comb for the hair; a currycomb.^[3][6][1][7]
2. The reed of a weaver's loom; weaving.^[3][6][1]
3. The plectrum of a lyre; the lyre itself; a song.^[3][1]
4. A rake; a comb for gathering ears of grain.^[3][1]
5. The pubic bone, the pubic region; pubic hair.^[3][1]
6. A comb-like formation or arrangement.^[3]
7. A scallop.^[3][1]

Word family

• pectinārius
• pectinō
• pectunculus

Related words

• pectō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 g h i j k l m n o p q r Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson