Etymologically
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umerus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈʊ.mɛ.rʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈuː.me.rus][1]

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
  • 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