periscelis

Forms

periscelis f (genitive periscelidis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek περισκελίς (periskelís, “leg-band, anklet”).^[2][3][1] Köbler analyses the Greek word as περί (perí, “around”) and σκελίς (skelís, “ham, hind leg, hip”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first author is Horace, whose Epistles mention someone often weeping over an anklet snatched away.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

It names a band worn round the leg by women, an anklet or garter.^[2][3] Petronius speaks of twisted ones,^[3] and Isidore lists periscelides among women's ornaments, explaining them as ornaments of the shins that adorn the way women walk.^[5] The Vulgate has it in the Book of Numbers, and Jerome uses it in a letter.^[3] Manuscripts and glosses spell it in many corrupted ways, such as persc- and presc-.^[6]

Timeline

• 65–8 BC – Horace mentions a stolen anklet.^[3][4]
• before 66 AD – Petronius mentions twisted anklets.^[3][4]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it in the Book of Numbers.^[3][4]
• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore lists it among women's ornaments.^[5][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A leg band worn by women, an anklet or garter.^[2][3][7]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
6. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson