pectus

Forms

pectus n (genitive pectoris); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *pektos- (“breast”).^[2] Its likely cognate is Old Irish ucht (“breast, chest”), if that goes back to ⟨*pektu-⟩; a PIE source is uncertain.^[2][1] De Vaan rejects the old comparison with Tocharian, whose word belongs to Proto-Indo-European *psten- (“breast”), and the link with Sanskrit पक्ष (pakṣá, “wing”) is doubtful.^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Livius Andronicus on:^[2][3] balteus et revocat volucrēs in pectore sinūs, of a belt holding the folds of a garment on the breast.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Pectus is the breast, the chest, and also the breast as the channel for food.^[4] As the seat of feelings and moral qualities it is the heart, and then the soul, mind and whole personality.^[4][5] It can mean a person of courage or affection, “a stout heart”, and the face of a mountain.^[4][1]

In Church Latin it is the heart, soul and mind, the seat of affections.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 280–200 BC – First found in Livius Andronicus.^[4][2][3]
• c. 235–200 BC – Naevius uses it of feelings: magnae metūs tumultūs pectora possīdit, “great fear seized their hearts”.^[4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of food passed down from the breast.^[4][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The breast, chest.^[4][5][1]
2. The breast as the channel of food.^[4]
3. (figurative) The heart (as the seat of feeling).^[4][1]
4. The soul, mind, personality.^[4][1][6]
5. A stout heart, a loving heart (of a person).^[4][1]
6. The face of a mountain.^[4]

Word family

• appectorō
• expectorō
• pectorāle
• pectorālis
• pectorōsus
• pectusculum
• tripectorus

Related words

• cor
• animus

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