fornix Latin · revision 32603

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=derivation|attested=204–169 BC, Ennius|origins=la furnus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈfɔr.nɪks]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈfɔr.niks]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''fornix''' ''m'' (genitive fornicis); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is probably formed [[der|la|furnus|t=oven]], an oven with an arched or domed top, and is related to [[m|la|fornāx|t=furnace]].^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Etymonline) Wiktionary reconstructs ⟨*fornikos⟩, vaulted like a furnace.^(Wiktionary) Etymonline traces the family to [[ine-pro|*gʷʰer-|t=to heat]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Köbler dates it from Ennius.^(Köbler 2010) The OLD's earliest quotation is an inscription recording the building of foundations and arches.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is a vault or arch, and an archway: Cicero describes a crowd of slaves bursting onto the stage from the archways and doors.^(OLD 2012) It is also a monumental arch: Cicero jokes that Memmius thought himself so great that he ducked his head under the Fabian Arch.^(OLD 2012) Seneca says that Democritus was believed to have invented the arch.^(Lewis & Short 1879) From the vaulted cellars where prostitutes stood it came to mean a brothel, as in Horace.^(OLD 2012)^(Niermeyer 1976) In medieval Latin it could also mean a furnace, by confusion with [[fornax|alt=fornāx]], and figuratively a foundation.^(Wiktionary) English [[m|en|fornix]], an arched structure in anatomy, is from it, from the 1680s.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it.^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero of archways and of the Fabian Arch.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 65–8 BC – Horace of a brothel.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca of the invention of the arch.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1680s – English [[m|en|fornix|alt=fornix]] in anatomy.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|vault]], [[m|en|arch]]; an archway; a monumental arch.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A cellar used for prostitution, a [[m|en|brothel]].^(OLD 2012)^(Niermeyer 1976)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A furnace, oven; figuratively, a foundation.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[fornicāria]]

+ * [[fornicārius]]

+ * [[cōnfornicō]]

+ * [[fornicātim]]

+ * [[fornicātiō]]

+ * [[fornicātor]]

+ * [[fornicātrīx]]

+ * [[fornicātus]]

+ * [[fornicor]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[furnus]]

+ * [[fornax|alt=fornāx]]

+ * [[en|fornication]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}