tergus

Forms

tergus n (genitive tergoris); third declension^[1] Plautus has the older form tegus.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin tergum (“back”), with a third-declension ending modelled on pectus (“breast”);^[4] de Vaan lists it among the derivatives of that noun.^[5] Wiktionary allows a blend with ⟨tegus, tegoris⟩, which may have had its own origin.^[1][4] The origin of the base is unclear: Walde–Hofmann and Pokorny derived it from a root Proto-Indo-European *(s)ter- (“to be stiff”) with a suffix ⟨-g-⟩, assuming that it first meant the stiff hair on an animal's back, but de Vaan finds no evidence for this.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Ennius,^[5] who uses it of a back covered by a thick cloak.^[4] Plautus, who also has the form tegus, writes of meat racks laden with backs of meat.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

Mostly poetic and post-Augustan, it is the back of an animal, especially as meat, and the body of an animal;^[4][3][6] Virgil and Ovid also use it of a person's back.^[4] From the back it passes to the hide: in Virgil hides are torn from the ribs,^[4][7] Pliny the Elder writes of the elephant's hide, very hard on the back, Ovid of the hides of a shield and Martial of a cuirass.^[4][2][7] Celsus uses it of the coat of an organ and of the foreskin, and Mela of a narrow ridge of land.^[4] Alcuin's work on spelling notes that terga is used of people and tergus, plural tergora, “hides”, of four-footed animals.^[8]

Timeline

• 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it of a back covered by a cloak.^[4][5][9]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of hides.^[4][9]
• 14–37 AD – Celsus uses it of the coat of the stomach.^[4][9]
• 43/44 AD – Mela uses it of a ridge of land.^[4][9]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder writes of the elephant's hide.^[4][9]
• 639–709 AD – Aldhelm uses tergora dūra in a riddle.^[8][9]

Meanings

Noun

1. The back of an animal, especially as meat; the body of an animal.^[4][3][7]
2. The back of a person.^[4]
3. A raised surface, a ridge;^[4][7] ab tergōre, on the far side.^[4][7]
4. Hide, skin, leather; the hides of a shield, a cuirass.^[4][2][7]
5. The outer coat of an organ of the body.^[4]

Word family

• tergilla
• tergorō

Related words

• tergum
• tergīnum
• tergiversor

Usage notes

Gaffiot records a rare second-declension tergus, -ī (masculine), used like tergum in Plautus.^[2] Döderlein distinguishes tergus, the coarse skin of an animal covering the edible flesh, from cutis, the finer skin of people, while pellis and vellus are skins together with their hair.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
3. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ 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
6. ^ Simpson, D. P. (1959), Cassell's New Latin Dictionary, London: Cassell
7. ^ a b c d e f Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
10. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper