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praecordia

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word praecordia

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Latin (cor)

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [prae̯ˈkɔr.di.a][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [preˈkɔr.di.a][1]

Forms

praecordia n pl (genitive praecordiōrum); second declension[1] Isidore has a singular praecordium.[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from prae- (“in front of”) and cor (“heart”) with the suffix -ium, “what lies before the heart”.[4][1][3] De Vaan traces ⟨cor⟩ to Proto-Italic *kord and Proto-Indo-European *ḱḗr (“heart”), with the oblique stem ⟨*ḱr̥d-⟩, cognate with Ancient Greek καρδία (kardía), Hittite ker and Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌹𐍂𐍄𐍉 (hairtō).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest example is Plautus' Mercator, where the spleen rebels and seizes the vitals.[4] Köbler's first source is Cicero.[6]

Semantic evolution

It is the parts of the body just below the heart, the vitals; medical writers such as Celsus use it of the lower chest and upper belly, and Pliny the Elder of the diaphragm, the membrane separating the guts from the organs above.[4][2] Poets use it of the chest over the heart.[4] Lucilius already makes it the seat of feeling: he says he brings out a verse from his heart.[4]

Church Latin glosses it “heart, hearts”.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of the vitals.[4][6]
  • c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius of the heart as seat of feeling.[4][6]
  • 14–37 AD – Celsus in medicine.[4][6]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of the diaphragm.[4][6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The parts below the heart, the vitals; in medicine, the lower chest; the diaphragm, midriff.[4][2][1]
  2. The chest, breast.[4][1]
  3. The breast as the seat of feelings, the heart.[4][1][7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
Cite this entry

“Praecordia.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/praecordia. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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