Etymologically
Log in

pectus

This is an old revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 18 October 2026 at 19:18. It may differ significantly from the current version. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Current version Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈpɛk.tʊs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈpɛk.tus][1]

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

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