umerus

Forms

umerus m (genitive umerī); second declension^[1] The spelling humerus is frequent in manuscripts and some editions, though not correct.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *omes-o-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₂om-es- (“shoulder”), with ⟨-s-⟩ becoming ⟨-r-⟩ between vowels.^[4][1] Cognate with Umbrian onse (“on the shoulder”), Sanskrit अंस (áṃsa, “shoulder”), Ancient Greek ὦμος (ômos, “shoulder”), Gothic 𐌰𐌼𐍃𐌰𐌽𐍃 (amsans, “shoulders”) and Tocharian B āntse (“shoulder”).^[4][2] De Vaan rejects a link with Hittite anašša- (“lower back”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus,^[4][5] who describes a little cloak cōnexum in umerō laevō, “fastened on the left shoulder”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Umerus is the shoulder of a person, and the corresponding part of an animal; in Celsus it is the bone of the upper arm.^[2][3][1] Because the shoulders carry burdens, it is used figuratively of bearing a charge (Cicero: the state rests on your shoulders).^[2][1] It is also the “shoulder” of a hill, of a building, and of a stretch of coast (Pliny the Elder of Rhegium on the shoulder of Italy), and in Columella the side branches of a tree.^[2][1]

Church Latin glosses it “shoulder, upper arm”.^[6] English humerus comes from the spelling humerus, first in the 14th century for “shoulder”; it has named the bone since 1706.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: cōnexum in umerō laevō.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of the strength of oxen's shoulders.^[2][5]
• 14–37 AD – Celsus of the bone of the upper arm.^[2][5]
• 1706 – English humerus for the bone.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. The shoulder.^[2][3][1][6]
2. (anatomy) The bone of the upper arm, humerus.^[2][3][1]
3. The shoulders as bearing a burden.^[2][1]
4. The “shoulder” of a hill, building or coast.^[2][1]
5. (plural) The side branches of a tree.^[2][1]

Word family

• umerāle
• umerulus

Related words

• armus
• English humerus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com