fibra Latin · revision 31850

+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|attested=234–149 BC, Cato}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈfɪ.bra]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈfiː.bra]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''fibra''' ''f'' (genitive fibrae); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The origin is uncertain.^(TLL)^(de Vaan 2008) The OLD suggests a root ⟨*fid-⟩ of [[findō|t=to split]], with the suffix of [[latebra]], and Wiktionary and Köbler also connect it with that verb.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Köbler 2010) An older comparison with [[fīlum|t=thread]] through ⟨*fisra⟩ fails, since that noun is now traced to ⟨*gʷʰiH-lo-⟩, which would give a long /ī/.^(de Vaan 2008) De Vaan takes [[fimbriae|t=fringe]] as a specialized use of the same word; its unexplained nasal and the irregular alternation may point to a loanword.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ Varro said the ancients called the edge ⟨februm⟩, whence the ⟨fimbriae⟩ of cloaks and the ⟨fibra⟩ at the edge of the liver.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan and Köbler date it from Cato,^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) who uses it of the leaves or blades of leeks in a remedy.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Its first sense is the leaf or blade of a plant, then a fibril of a root, as Cicero's young green that grows supported by the fibres of the roots.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) It is also a fold or lobe of anything divided by fissures, as Mela's bays and headlands that cut the coast of the Peloponnese like lobes.^(OLD 2012) In anatomy it is a lobe of the liver, as in Lucilius, or of the lungs, as in Celsus, and ''fellis fibra'' is the gall bladder.^(OLD 2012) In the plural it is the entrails, as in Ovid, and Pliny the Elder speaks of men searching the bowels of the earth.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ Church Latin glosses it “fibre, filament”, and also “vocal cord, voice”.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato of leek leaves.^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius of a lobe of the liver.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero of the fibres of roots.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 14–37 AD – Celsus of the lobes of the lungs.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * late 14th century – Borrowed into English as [[m|en|fiber|alt=fibre]], first “a lobe of the liver”.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A leaf or blade of a plant; a [[m|en|fibre]], [[m|en|filament]] of a root.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A lobe, fold, section of anything divided.^(OLD 2012)

+ # A [[m|en|lobe]] of the liver or lungs; a fold of the intestines;^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) ''fellis fibra'', the gall bladder.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # In the plural, the [[m|en|entrails]]; the bowels of the earth.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(Ecclesiastical Latin)'' A vocal cord; the voice.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[fibratus]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[fimbriae]]

+ * [[en|fiber]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}