supercilium Latin · revision 31436

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=compound|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=ine-pro *ḱel-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [sʊ.pɛrˈkɪ.li.ũː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [su.perˈt͡ʃiː.li.um]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''supercilium''' ''n'' (genitive superciliī or supercilī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is formed from [[m|la|super-|t=above]] and a noun [[m|la|cilium|t=eyelid]].^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008) Since ⟨cilium⟩ is found only from Pliny the Elder, long after ⟨supercilium⟩, it can be explained as a back-formation from the compound, as Walde and Hofmann and Ernout and Meillet proposed;^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012) de Vaan notes that a noun for “eyelid” must still have existed, since the eyelid hides the eye but the brow does not, so ⟨supercilium⟩ may first have meant “what is above the eyelid”.^(de Vaan 2008) He derives that noun from [[itc-pro|*kel-jo-|t=eyelid]] and [[ine-pro|*ḱel-io-|t=hiding]], from the root of [[m|la|occulō|t=to hide]] and [[m|la|cēlō|t=to conceal]].^(de Vaan 2008) The OLD calls the derivation from the root of ⟨occulō⟩ only probable.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Plautus has “so my eyebrow twitches”, as an omen, in the ''Pseudolus'';^(OLD 2012) Köbler also gives Plautus.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is the eyebrow, often with the ridge on which it grows, mostly in the plural, and the brows used to nod assent or refusal and to make signs, as Cicero's men who deny the charge with their eyebrows.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Varro uses it of horses, and Petronius of a false eyebrow.^(OLD 2012) As the brow that frowns it stands for sternness, gravity or haughtiness, as Cicero's man who hid his secret vices behind his forehead and brow, and so for stern looks, severity and pride.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ By transfer it is the brow of a hill or an overhanging bank, as in the ''Bellum Africum'', a small rise in surveying, and a projecting stretch of coast in Mela;^(OLD 2012) in architecture it is an overhang or the lintel of a door, as in Vitruvius.^(OLD 2012) Church Latin glosses it “eyebrow; pride, arrogance”.^(Stelten 1995) English took it in the 1670s for the eyebrow, and ''supercilious'' comes from the figurative sense.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a twitching eyebrow.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro of a horse's eyebrows.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero of a stern brow hiding vices.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius of a moulding in an Ionic base.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1670s – Borrowed into English as [[m|en|supercilium]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # An [[m|en|eyebrow]], the brow;^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995) the brows as used in nodding or making signs.^(OLD 2012)

+ # Sternness, gravity; [[m|en|haughtiness]], [[m|en|pride]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # The brow of a hill, an overhanging edge or bank; a projection of a coastline.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(architecture)'' An overhang; the [[m|en|lintel]] of a door.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[superciliōsus]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[cilium]]

+ * [[occulō]]

+ * [[cēlō]]

+ * [[en|supercilious]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}