Etymologically
Log in

sinciput

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 21 October 2026 at 00:06. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈsɪŋ.kɪ.pʊt][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈsin̠ʲ.t͡ʃi.put][1]

Forms

sinciput n (genitive sincipitis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin sēmi- (“half”) + caput (“head”),[2][1][3] “half a head”, from a form *sēmi-caput.[3] De Vaan notes that it keeps the ⟨u⟩ of the word for head, which anceps, biceps and praeceps weakened to ⟨i⟩ in their other cases.[3] A Latin–Greek glossary renders it with Ancient Greek ἡμικεφάλιον (hēmikephálion) and ἡμίκρανον (hēmíkranon),[4][1] and the grammarian Diomedes explained it as a half head.[5]

The word for head goes back to Proto-Italic *kaput (“head”).[3] sēmi- continues *sēmi-, from Proto-Indo-European *sēm-i (“in one”), with a shift from “in one” through “one of the two” to “half”.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus is the first to use it,[6][2] jokingly of the head as the seat of the mind: in the Menaechmi one character tells another, nōn tibi sānum est, adulēscēns, sinciput, “your head's not sound, young man”.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Its usual sense was half a head as food, especially the smoked cheek of a pig: Pliny the Elder speaks of boars' sincipita, and Persius of a smoky sinciput.[4][5][2] Juvenal uses it of a boiled head.[4][5] Sidonius uses it for the head in general.[4][5]

Medieval British writers used it for the top or front of the head, as opposed to occiput,[7] the sense that English took over in the 1570s for the forepart of the skull.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of the head as the seat of reason.[2][6]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder mentions boars' smoked cheeks.[4][5][6]
  • 34–62 AD – Persius speaks of a smoky pig's cheek.[4][6]
  • c. 67–c. 127 AD – Juvenal uses it of a boiled head.[4][6]
  • c. 431–486 AD – Sidonius uses it for the head.[4][6]
  • 1570s – English borrows it for the forepart of the head.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Half a head as food, especially the smoked cheek or jowl of a pig.[2][4]
  2. (jocular) The brain, the head as the seat of reason.[2][4]
  3. The head in general.[4][5]
  4. (Medieval Latin) The top or front of the head.[7]

Word family

  • sincipitāmentum
  • sincipitālis
  • caput
  • occiput
  • English sinciput

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  6. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b 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
  8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com