punctura

Forms

pūnctūra f (genitive pūnctūrae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

The TLL derives it from pungō (“to prick”), by way of pūnctum;^[2] the DMLBS describes it as formed from Latin pūnctus + -ūra.^[3] It lives on in Italian and Spanish puntura, French pointure and Provençal ponchura.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL's first passage is in the medical Quaestiones attributed to Soranus, of a small wound made by pricking, which looks slight but does much harm when it is in the sinews or muscles.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The Latin translation of Oribasius uses it for the stings of wasps and bees, the pricks of needles and black puncture marks on the skin, and for a pricking pain.^[2] Older editions printed it in Celsus, Firmicus Maternus and Vegetius, where the manuscripts are now read otherwise;^[2] Lewis & Short still cite those passages.^[4] In Medieval Latin it meant piercing or pricking, also the stitching of quilted garments,^[3] and a pleurisy, a stitch in the side.^[5] English took it over as puncture.^[6]

Timeline

• 1303 – Accounts for a prince's armourer use it for the quilting of padded jackets.^[3]
• 1378 – Letters of remission use it for a pain in the side.^[5]
• late 14th century – English borrows it as puncture, a small wound.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Late Latin) A prick, puncture, small wound made by a point; a sting.^[2][4]
2. (Late Latin) A pricking pain.^[2]
3. (Medieval Latin) Piercing, pricking; quilting.^[3]
4. (Medieval Latin) Pleurisy, a stitch in the side.^[5]

Related words

• pungō
• pūnctum

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com