Etymologically
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umbilicus

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ʊm.bɪˈliː.kʊs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [um.biˈliː.kus][1]

Forms

umbilīcus m (genitive umbilīcī); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *omb-(e/o)l-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₃nbʰ-(e/o)l- (“navel”).[2] The suffix is complex: in view of the l-suffixes of Celtic, Greek and Germanic, de Vaan takes it as an old l-stem made thematic as *-(e)lo-, to which the suffix -īcus was added.[2][1] Cognate with Old Irish imbliu (“navel”), Sanskrit नाभि (nā́bhi, “navel, hub”), Ancient Greek ὀμφαλός (omphalós, “navel”), Old Prussian nabis (“hub, navel”), Old High German nabalo (“navel”) and Old English nafela (English navel).[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,[2] who has a character say that the day is already dead down to its navel, that is, half over.[4] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[5]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense was the navel of a person or an animal, and in Celsus the umbilical cord.[3] Things resembling a navel in position or shape took the name: the centre of a country, so that a place in the middle of Sicily was called its navel, a central point in surveying, the gnomon of a sundial, the germ of a seed, a small pebble on the shore, a setting for a gem, and the ornamented end of the rod on which a book roll was wound, so that ad umbilicum meant “to the end”.[3][1]

Varro compared the place at the middle of the earth to the navel in our bodies.[3] The Appendix Probi corrects the popular form imbilicus.[6] It survives in Spanish ombligo and in Old French lombril, which became French nombril by dissimilation; English umbilicus is a medical word from the 1610s.[1][7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of the middle of the day.[4][5]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro compares the centre of the earth to the navel.[3][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero calls a place in the middle of Sicily its navel.[3][5]
  • 14–37 AD – Celsus uses it of the umbilical cord.[3][5]
  • 1610s – English umbilicus is recorded in anatomy.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The navel; the umbilical cord.[3]
  2. The centre of a country or region; the middle.[3][1]
  3. A central point in surveying; the gnomon of a sundial.[3]
  4. The germinating part of a seed.[3]
  5. The ornamented end of the rod of a book roll, ad umbilicum, to the end.[3][1]
  6. A small pebble found on the shore; a setting for a gem.[3]

Word family

  • umbilicaris
  • umbilicātus
  • umbō
  • English umbilical
  • English navel
  • English nombril

Usage notes

Isidore says it is the middle of the body and derives it from umbus iliorum, the boss of the belly, whence also umbō.[8] The Appendix Probi has umbilicus non imbilicus.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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 c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b Appendix Probi, a late antique list of correct and censured Latin word forms ("calida non calda"); ed. H. Keil, Grammatici Latini IV, Leipzig 1864, 197–199.
  7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).