orbita Latin · revision 36382

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=derivation|attested=116–27 BC, Varro|origins=la orbis}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈɔr.bɪ.ta], [ˈɔr.bɪ.taː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈɔr.bi.ta], [ˈɔr.bi.ta]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''orbita''' ''f'' (genitive orbitae); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[der|la|orbis|t=circle, wheel]], according to the OLD and the TLL,^(OLD 2012)^(TLL) though the TLL notes doubts about both its meaning and its form, since a long ⟨ī⟩ would be expected.^(TLL) De Vaan traces it, together with [[xum|urfeta]], an object that an Umbrian priest holds in his hands, to [[itc-pro|*orfi/etā-|t=wheel-like, disc]], with the vowel restored in the second syllable in Umbrian.^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012) After Weiss he explains this as the feminine of a stem meaning “wheel-like one”, derived from the noun from which ⟨orbis⟩ also comes.^(de Vaan 2008) The further origin of that noun is much disputed;^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) Weiss and Wiktionary derive it from [[ine-pro|*h₃erbʰ-|t=to turn]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan dates it from Varro,^(de Vaan 2008) who uses it figuratively of a practice of married women,^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) while Cicero uses it of the rut made by a wheel.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Its basic sense is the track or rut a wheel leaves in the ground:^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) besides Cicero, Virgil and Livy use it so.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Anything like such a track could be called by it: Manilius has a gleaming track in the blue sky, and Pliny the Elder the mark left by a band.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) In poetry and later prose it is the course of a heavenly body: Propertius counts the circuits of the full moon, and the ''Aetna'' and Seneca speak of the moon's orbit.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Figuratively it is a beaten path, a routine or example to follow: Quintilian uses it of a well-trodden way, and Juvenal of the track of an old fault.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(OLD 2012)

+

+ In British medieval Latin it still meant a wheel track or path, also a swath cut in mowing, a model to follow, a circuit and the course of the world or of a year.^(DMLBS) Medieval Latin also used it of the socket of the eye, the sense in which English first took over [[m|en|orbit]] in the late 14th century; the astronomical sense was revived in Gerard of Cremona's translation of Avicenna and reached English in the 1690s.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of a routine of married women.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a wheel rut.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 57/46–12 BC – Propertius uses it of the moon's course.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca speaks of the moon's orbit.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 67–c. 127 AD – Juvenal uses it of the track of an old fault.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * late 14th century – English borrows it as [[m|en|orbit]], at first for the eye socket.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The track made by a [[m|en|wheel]], a [[m|en|rut]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # A mark or furrow like a wheel track.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # The path of a heavenly body, [[m|en|orbit]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(figurative)'' A beaten path; regular practice, [[m|en|routine]]; example.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A [[m|en|swath]] cut in mowing; a circuit.^(DMLBS)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' The socket of the eye.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[exorbitō]]

+ * [[orbitōsus]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[orbis]]

+ * [[orbiculus]]

+ * [[en|orbit]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}