scapula Latin · revision 33132

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=inherited|attested=c. 235–200 BC, Naevius|origins=itc-pro *skap-elo-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈska.pʊ.ɫa]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈskaː.pu.la]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''scapula''' ''f'' (genitive scapulae); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The singular is a later form of the classical plural [[m|la|scapulae|t=shoulder blades]];^(Wiktionary)^(Etymonline) that plural is [[inh|itc-pro|*skap-elo-]] in de Vaan's reconstruction, cognate with [[xum|scapla|t=shoulder blade]].^(de Vaan 2008) He and the OLD think the first sense may have been “spade” or “shovel”, from the shape;^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012) the OLD compares [[grc|σκάπτω|tr=skáptō|t=to dig]], while de Vaan notes that a root ⟨*(s)kep-⟩ cannot explain the Latin ⟨a⟩.^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan dates ''scapulae'' from Naevius;^(de Vaan 2008) Köbler also dates the word from him.^(Köbler 2010) Plautus uses the plural in the ''Casina'' of shoulders that will be beaten if the speaker goes home.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Classical Latin the word is plural, the shoulder blades of people and animals or the shoulders and back in general, often where flogging is meant.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Vitruvius uses it of the “shoulders” of a crane.^(OLD 2012) The singular ''scapula'', the shoulder, belongs to Late Latin;^(Wiktionary)^(Etymonline) British Medieval Latin has it for a shoulder or the back, with phrases for arresting someone and for turning one's back and running away.^(DMLBS) Stelten glosses the plural “shoulders, back, wings, shoulder blades”.^(Stelten 1995) English took [[m|en|scapula]] in anatomy in the 1570s, from Modern Latin.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 235–200 BC – Naevius has the plural.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, of shoulders that will be beaten.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius, of the shoulders of a crane.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1570s – English [[m|en|scapula]], the shoulder blade, from Modern Latin.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(chiefly plural)'' A [[m|en|shoulder blade]]; the shoulders, the back.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(plural)'' The upper part of a machine, its “shoulders”.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(Late Latin)'' The [[m|en|shoulder]].^(Wiktionary)^(Etymonline)^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[scapulae]]

+ * [[en|scapula]]

+ * [[en|scapular]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The OLD and Lewis & Short also record a separate ''scapula'', the name of a kind of vine in Pliny the Elder, of unknown origin.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) ''Scapula'' was also a Roman surname, borne by a partisan of Pompey in the ''Bellum Hispaniense'' and by a usurer of Cicero's time.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}