palmus Latin · revision 36572

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=derivation|attested=234–149 BC, Cato|origins=ine-pro *plh₂-em-h₂-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈpaɫ.mʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈpal.mus]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''palmus''' ''m'' (genitive palmī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[der|la|palma|t=palm of the hand]], a masculine form beside it.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(de Vaan 2008) That noun goes back to [[itc-pro|*palamā-]] and [[ine-pro|*plh₂-em-h₂-|t=flat, wide]].^(de Vaan 2008) Cognate with [[grc|παλάμη|tr=palámē|t=palm of the hand]], [[sga|lám]], [[cy|llaw]], [[goh|folma|t=hand]] and [[ang|folm|t=flat hand]].^(de Vaan 2008) De Vaan notes that a borrowing of the feminine from Greek, which some have assumed, would not explain the masculine.^(de Vaan 2008) Wiktionary instead derives it straight from [[m|ine-pro|*pl̥h₂m-|t=palm of the hand]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Cato is the first to use it, in his work on agriculture, as a measure: discs a foot and a palm thick, ''crassōs pedem et palmum''.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Vitruvius uses it for the palm of the hand itself.^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010) As a measure it had two values: the Greek palm of four fingers' breadth, a quarter of a foot, and the Roman span of twelve.^(Georges 1913)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Varro, Columella and Pliny the Elder use it for heights and distances.^(OLD 2012) Pliny reports that the ancient Greeks called the palm ''dōron'', and that gifts were called ''dōra'' because they were given by hand.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Jerome notes that the Greek word for the measure is more correctly ''palaestēs'', a sixth of a cubit.^(TLL)

+

+ Medieval writers used it for the hand and for the span;^(DMLBS) Bede writes of a body found longer than its coffin by a palm.^(DMLBS) It is the source of Italian [[m|it|palmo]].^(Conte 2010)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato uses it as a measure of thickness.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro uses it as a unit of height.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it for the palm of the hand.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it for the height of plants.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The [[m|en|palm]] of the hand.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # The width of the palm as a unit of length, four fingers' breadth or a quarter of a foot.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)

+ # A [[m|en|span]] of twelve fingers' breadth.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[bipalmis]]

+ * [[bipalmus]]

+ * [[palmipēs]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[palma]]

+ * [[palmāris]]

+ * [[palmula]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}