Etymologically
Log in

tergum

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 18 October 2026 at 21:37. This address is a permanent link to this version.
← Previous version Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈtɛr.ɡũː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈtɛr.ɡum][1]

Forms

tergum n (genitive tergī); second declension[1] Poets and post-Augustan prose also have tergus, genitive tergoris;[2][3] Plautus once has a masculine.[2] Post tergum is sometimes written as one word, postergum.[4]

Etymology

The origin is unclear.[3][1] Walde–Hofmann and Pokorny took it as ⟨*terg-o-⟩, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ter- (“to be stiff”) with a suffix ⟨*-g-⟩, first the stiff hair on an animal's back; de Vaan finds no evidence for this.[3][1][5] The OLD tentatively compares Ancient Greek στέρφος (stérphos, “hide”), Lewis and Short Ancient Greek τράχηλος (trákhēlos, “neck”).[4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,[3] who has a slave threatened with supplicium … dē tergō vostrō, a beating on the back.[4]

Semantic evolution

Tergum is the back of a person, especially as the part that is flogged, and the back of an animal, also as the part that is ridden.[4][2][1] Poets often use the plural for the singular.[4] Of an army it is the rear, and terga vertere or tergum dare “to turn one's back”, flee.[4][2] Post tergum is “behind”, ā tergō “from behind” and, of places, the far side.[4][1]

Döderlein says dorsum is the back in a horizontal direction, as of an animal as opposed to its belly, tergum the back in an upright direction, between a man's shoulders, as opposed to the breast.[6] Church Latin glosses it “back”.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: dabitur pol supplicium mihi dē tergō vostrō.[4][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero: cranes rest their necks on the backs of the birds flying ahead.[4][5]
  • c. 50 BC – Caesar: hostēs abiectīs armīs terga vertērunt, “the enemy threw down their arms and fled”.[4][5]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil: nunc terga fugā nūdant, “now they bare their backs in flight”.[4][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The back (of a person).[4][2][1][7]
  2. The back (of an animal).[4]
  3. The rear (of an army); terga vertere, tergum dare, to flee.[4][2]
  4. post tergum, behind;[4] ā tergō, from behind.[4]
  5. The far side (of a place); surface.[4][1]

Word family

  • tergīnum
  • tergiversor
  • dorsum

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c d 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 m n o p q Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson