tergum Latin · revision 17911

+ {{infobox|confidence=unknown|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈtɛr.ɡũː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈtɛr.ɡum]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''tergum''' ''n'' (genitive tergī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+ Poets and post-Augustan prose also have ''tergus'', genitive ''tergoris'';^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(de Vaan 2008) Plautus once has a masculine.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ ''Post tergum'' is sometimes written as one word, ''postergum''.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The origin is unclear.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) Walde–Hofmann and Pokorny took it as ⟨*terg-o-⟩, from [[ine-pro|*(s)ter-|t=to be stiff]] with a suffix ⟨*-g-⟩, first the stiff hair on an animal's back; de Vaan finds no evidence for this.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary)^(Köbler 2010) The OLD tentatively compares [[grc|στέρφος|tr=stérphos|t=hide]], Lewis and Short [[grc|τράχηλος|tr=trákhēlos|t=neck]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan dates it from Plautus,^(de Vaan 2008) who has a slave threatened with ''supplicium … dē tergō vostrō'', a beating on the back.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==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.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary) Poets often use the plural for the singular.^(OLD 2012) Of an army it is the rear, and ''terga vertere'' or ''tergum dare'' “to turn one's back”, flee.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) ''Post tergum'' is “behind”, ''ā tergō'' “from behind” and, of places, the far side.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ 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.^(Döderlein 1874) Church Latin glosses it “back”.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: ''dabitur pol supplicium mihi dē tergō vostrō''.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero: cranes rest their necks on the backs of the birds flying ahead.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 50 BC – Caesar: ''hostēs abiectīs armīs terga vertērunt'', “the enemy threw down their arms and fled”.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil: ''nunc terga fugā nūdant'', “now they bare their backs in flight”.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The [[m|en|back]] (of a person).^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # The back (of an animal).^(OLD 2012)

+ # The rear (of an army); ''terga vertere'', ''tergum dare'', to flee.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''post tergum'', behind;^(OLD 2012) ''ā tergō'', from behind.^(OLD 2012)

+ # The far side (of a place); surface.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[tergīnum]]

+ * [[tergiversor]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[dorsum]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}