pectoralis

Forms

pectorālis (neuter pectorāle); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin pectus + -ālis, from the stem ⟨pector-⟩ of the noun for the breast.^[2][3][1] The noun goes back to Proto-Italic *pektos-, and de Vaan finds a likely cognate in Old Irish ucht (“breast, chest”), if that reflects an earlier ⟨*pektu-⟩.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Varro has it first,^[4] as a neuter plural noun: he explains lōrīca “cuirass” from the leather straps of which breastplates, pectoralia, were once made.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Used as a noun, the neuter pectorale was a covering for the breast of a man or a horse, above all a breastplate: Pliny the Elder tells of a statue of Jupiter made from the breastplates of defeated Samnites.^[3][5] As an adjective it qualified the breastbone (os pectorale) in Celsus,^[5][3] the band that held a woman's breasts (fascia pectoralis) in Martial and the Bible,^[3] a short tunic covering the chest in Ammianus Marcellinus,^[5][3] and a sash worn by priests in Apuleius.^[3] Isidore of Seville explains that such a tunic was so called because in old times it reached only to the breast.^[3]

Medieval Latin used amicus pectoralis for a bosom friend, and the noun for a pectoral worn on the breast, a breastplate, a horse's poitrel and, by association with a Middle English word, a measure of land.^[6] The noun for the covering of the breast lives on in Italian pettorale, French poitrail, Catalan pitral, Spanish pretal and Portuguese peitoral.^[3] English took the adjective over in the 1570s.^[7]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro uses pectoralia for breastplates.^[3][4][8]
• 14–37 AD – Celsus names the breastbone os pectorale.^[5][3][8]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder mentions a statue made from Samnite breastplates.^[3][8]
• 40–102/103 AD – Martial writes of the fascia pectoralis, a breast band.^[3][8]
• c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome's Vulgate has fascia pectoralis in Isaiah.^[5][3][8]
• c. 390 AD – Ammianus Marcellinus describes a sleeveless tunic covering the chest.^[5][3][8]
• 1570s – English borrows it as pectoral.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or for the breast, pectoral.^[2][5][9]
2. (of a bone) Of the breast: os pectorale, the breastbone.^[5][3]
3. (of clothing) Worn on or covering the breast.^[3][5]
4. (Medieval Latin) Intimate: amicus pectoralis, a bosom friend.^[6]

Noun

1. (neuter, pectorale) A breastplate; a covering for the breast of a man or a horse.^[3][5]
2. (Medieval Latin) A pectoral worn on the breast; a horse's poitrel; a measure of land.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 k l m n o p q r Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c 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
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
9. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson