sinciput Latin · revision 36671

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=la sēmi-, la caput}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈsɪŋ.kɪ.pʊt]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈsin̠ʲ.t͡ʃi.put]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''sinciput''' ''n'' (genitive sincipitis); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|sēmi-|caput|t1=half|t2=head]],^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(de Vaan 2008) “half a head”, from a form [[m|la|*sēmi-caput]].^(de Vaan 2008) De Vaan notes that it keeps the ⟨u⟩ of the word for head, which [[m|la|anceps]], [[m|la|biceps]] and [[m|la|praeceps]] weakened to ⟨i⟩ in their other cases.^(de Vaan 2008) A Latin–Greek glossary renders it with [[grc|ἡμικεφάλιον|tr=hēmikephálion]] and [[m|grc|ἡμίκρανον|tr=hēmíkranon]],^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary) and the grammarian Diomedes explained it as a half head.^(Georges 1913)

+

+ The word for head goes back to [[itc-pro|*kaput|t=head]].^(de Vaan 2008) [[m|la|sēmi-]] continues [[m|itc-pro|*sēmi-]], from [[ine-pro|*sēm-i|t=in one]], with a shift from “in one” through “one of the two” to “half”.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Plautus is the first to use it,^(Köbler 2010)^(OLD 2012) jokingly of the head as the seat of the mind: in the ''Menaechmi'' one character tells another, ''nōn tibi sānum est, adulēscēns, sinciput'', “your head's not sound, young man”.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Its usual sense was half a head as food, especially the smoked cheek of a pig: Pliny the Elder speaks of boars' ''sincipita'', and Persius of a smoky ''sinciput''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)^(OLD 2012) Juvenal uses it of a boiled head.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) Sidonius uses it for the head in general.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ Medieval British writers used it for the top or front of the head, as opposed to [[occiput]],^(DMLBS) the sense that English took over in the 1570s for the forepart of the skull.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of the head as the seat of reason.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder mentions boars' smoked cheeks.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 34–62 AD – Persius speaks of a smoky pig's cheek.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 67–c. 127 AD – Juvenal uses it of a boiled head.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 431–486 AD – Sidonius uses it for the head.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1570s – English borrows it for the forepart of the head.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # Half a head as food, especially the smoked [[m|en|cheek]] or [[m|en|jowl]] of a pig.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(jocular)'' The [[m|en|brain]], the head as the seat of reason.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # The head in general.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' The top or front of the head.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[sincipitāmentum]]

+ * [[sincipitālis]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[caput]]

+ * [[occiput]]

+ * [[en|sinciput]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}