Etymologically
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spina

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈspiː.na][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈspiː.na][1]

Forms

spīna f (genitive spīnae); first declension[1] Varro has a variant spīnus.[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *speinā-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *spein-.[2] De Vaan thinks it may share a base *sp-i(H)- with spīca (“ear of grain”), and compares, perhaps, Umbrian spinia, and Latvian spina (“rod”) and Old High German spinela (“hairpin”).[2] The OLD also compares the Umbrian word.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Cato, who has thorn bushes to be cleared.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

It is a thorn or prickle: Virgil writes of the paliurus rising with sharp spines, and Lucretius of a snake leaving its skin on thorns.[3][4] Figuratively Cicero calls the subtleties of dividing and defining thorns.[3] It is also a thorn bush, a spine of an animal, as Cicero writes of creatures bristling with spines, and the backbone: Varro wants a dog's spine neither prominent nor curved.[3] Wiktionary adds the low barrier along the centre of a racecourse, and a toothpick.[1] Medieval Latin has it for the bung of a cask.[5] Through Old French it gave English spine, the backbone, about 1400.[6]

Timeline

  • 234–149 BC – Cato of thorn bushes.[3][2][7]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro of a dog's spine.[3][7]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of thorny subtleties.[3][7]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of the spines of a shrub.[3][7]
  • c. 1400 – English borrows it through Old French as spine.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A thorn, prickle; figuratively, a thorny question.[3][4][8][1]
  2. A thorn bush.[3][1]
  3. A spine or prickle of an animal; a fishbone.[3][1]
  4. The backbone, spine;[3][1] spīna sacra, the sacrum; the back.[3][1]
  5. The barrier along the centre of a circus; a toothpick.[1]
  6. (Medieval Latin) A bung.[5]

Word family

  • spīnālis
  • spīnēscō
  • spīnētum
  • spīneus
  • spīniger
  • spīnōsus
  • spīnula
  • spīnifer

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 de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson