imbrex Latin · revision 36486

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=la imber}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈɪm.brɛks]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈim.breks]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''imbrex''' ''f'' or m (genitive imbricis); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+ It is feminine in Plautus and Cato and masculine in Pliny the Elder.^(OLD 2012)

+ Glossaries also spell it ''imbrix'', with plurals such as ''imperges'' and ''infrices''.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[der|la|imber|t=rain]],^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(TLL) with the suffix [[m|la|-ex]], so named because these tiles carried off the rainwater.^(Wiktionary) De Vaan explains it from ⟨*imbri-k-s⟩; the vowel ⟨e⟩ is irregular for ⟨*-ix⟩, but the suffix is easily due to analogy, since many nouns in ⟨-ex⟩, ⟨-ix⟩ are technical words, such as [[m|la|apex]] and [[m|la|fornix]].^(de Vaan 2008) The noun [[m|la|imber]] goes back to [[itc-pro|*n̥fr-i-|t=cloud]] and [[ine-pro|*nbh-r-o-|t=(rain) cloud]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ Isidore of Seville explained the name the same way: the tiles are named from the rain because they receive it.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(TLL)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Plautus has it first, in the ''Miles Gloriosus'', for the curved [[m|en|tile|alt=tiles]] of a roof: a character complains that his ''imbricēs'' and flat tiles (''tēgulae'') have been broken.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The ''imbrex'' was the half-cylindrical tile laid over the joints between the flat roof tiles.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) From its shape the name passed to other curved things: Cato uses it for curved iron plates in a bearing, Martial apparently for a cut of pork,^(OLD 2012) and Suetonius, in his life of Nero, for a way of [[m|en|applause|alt=applauding]] with cupped hands.^(OLD 2012) It could also mean a gutter or a trough.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it for roof tiles.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato uses it for curved iron plates.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it as a masculine.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 40–102/103 AD – Martial seems to use it of a cut of pork.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius names a kind of applause after it.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A half-cylindrical roof [[m|en|tile]] laid over the joints between the flat tiles, a [[m|en|pantile]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # A curved plate forming part of a bearing.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(perhaps)'' A fillet of pork.^(OLD 2012)

+ # A way of applauding with hollowed hands.^(OLD 2012)

+ # A [[m|en|gutter]]; a [[m|en|trough]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[imbricō]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}