cymbalum Latin · revision 33760

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=81–43 BC, Cicero|origins=grc κύμβη}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈkym.ba.ɫũː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈt͡ʃim.ba.lum]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''cymbalum''' ''n'' (genitive cymbalī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+ Also ''cymbalon''.^(OLD 2012) Catullus has the genitive plural ''cymbalum''.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|grc|κύμβαλον|tr=kúmbalon|t=cymbal]],^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Wiktionary) from [[m|grc|κύμβη|tr=kúmbē|t=bowl, cup]].^(Wiktionary)^(Köbler 2010)^(Etymonline) Köbler takes the Greek word further back to [[ine-pro|*kumb-|t=bend, vessel]].^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLL finds it first in Cicero,^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010) and Lewis & Short also cite his contemporary Lucretius.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is a cymbal, usually in the plural: two hollow brass plates struck together, used in the rites of Cybele and Bacchus, at other festivals, and, Lewis & Short add, to keep bees from flying away.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Varro says swarms of bees are brought back with cymbals and clapping.^(OLD 2012) Vitruvius uses it of a cymbal-shaped valve in the water organ.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) In the singular it was a term of abuse for an empty, tiresome talker: Pliny the Elder says Tiberius called the grammarian Apion ''cymbalum mundi'', “the world's cymbal”, and a poem of the ''Appendix Vergiliana'' sends off a crowd of schoolmen as the empty cymbal of youth.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(OLD 2012) Church Latin has it as “cymbal”.^(Stelten 1995) English took [[m|en|chime]] from it about 1300, at first meaning “cymbal”, and [[m|en|cymbal]] in the mid-15th century.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero has the word.^(TLL)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro, of cymbals used to bring back bees.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus has the genitive plural ''cymbalum''.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius, of a valve in the water organ.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder reports Tiberius' name for Apion, “the world's cymbal”.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 1300 – English [[m|en|chime]], first meaning “cymbal”.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|cymbal]], usually in the plural.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # A term of abuse for an empty, tiresome talker.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # A cymbal-shaped [[m|en|valve]] in the [[m|en|water organ]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[cymbalicus]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[tympanum]]

+ * [[en|cymbal]]

+ * [[en|chime]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}