stoma

Forms

stoma n; third declension (ablative stomate).^[1][2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek στόμα (stóma, “mouth”).^[1][2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Lantfred's work on Saint Swithun it means the mouth as the organ of speech, and a gloss explains it as os.^[1]

Semantic evolution

It is a learned medieval word for the mouth, often as the organ of speech.^[1] Osbern of Gloucester explains it in his word list as the Greek for os, “mouth”, in connection with the name Chrysostom.^[1] In glosses it also names the mouth of the stomach or the oesophagus.^[1] Du Cange quotes a history attributed to Paul the Deacon in which stoma eremi means the entrance to the desert.^[3]

Timeline

• 1019 – A charter, preserved in a 15th-century copy, speaks of the mouth of a prophet.^[1]
• 14th century – Latham records it.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Medieval Latin) The mouth, especially as the organ of speech.^[1][2][3]
2. (Medieval Latin, in glosses) The mouth of the stomach, the oesophagus.^[1]
3. (Medieval Latin) An entrance or opening.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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
2. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
3. ^ a b c d du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre