pulmo

Forms

pulmō m (genitive pulmōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *plu-mōn, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *plu-mon- (“floating one, lung”), as de Vaan tentatively reconstructs it, with the zero grade of the root of the adjective Proto-Indo-European *pléu-mōn (“the floating one”) (lungs float on water) and a metathesis of ⟨plu-⟩ to ⟨pul-⟩;^[2][1] Wiktionary likewise has ⟨*plumō⟩ with metathesis.^[2][1] The TLL also explains it by an ablaut form ⟨*plu-mon-⟩ beside ⟨*pleu-mon-⟩, from which ⟨pulmōn-⟩ could arise by metathesis.^[3] The other explanation in the handbooks, de Vaan reports, is a borrowing of Ancient Greek πλεύμων (pleúmōn, “lung”) with the same metathesis; against it, a long vowel ⟨*plūmō⟩ would be expected, and words for the lung are seldom borrowed.^[2] Cognate with Sanskrit क्लोमन् (klomán-, “the right lung, (plural) the lungs”), the Greek word, Lithuanian plaũčiai (“lungs”) and Old Church Slavonic плюща (pljušta, “lungs”).^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus,^[2][4] whose speaker complains in the Curculio that his kidneys ache, his lungs are torn and his liver is racked.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It means the lung, in the singular or plural;^[5][6] Lewis & Short note the plural for the two lobes of the lungs, and the organ was very important in haruspicy.^[5][6] With marīnus Pliny the Elder uses it of a lung-like sea creature, apparently a kind of jellyfish.^[5][1]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of the lungs.^[5][2][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero describes the lungs.^[6]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of the sea creature pulmō marīnus.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A lung;^[5][6][1] (plural) the lungs.^[5][6][1]
2. (with marīnus) A lung-like sea creature, apparently a kind of jellyfish.^[5][1]

Word family

• pulmonaceus
• pulmōnārius
• pulmōneus
• pulmunculus
• pulmōnālis

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 f de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press