nervus Latin · revision 5461

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=Twelve Tables|origins=ine-pro *snéh₁wr̥}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈnɛr.wʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈnɛr.vus]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''nervus''' ''m'' (genitive nervī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|itc-pro|*(s)nēuro-]], a thematized form of [[ine-pro|*snéh₁wr̥|t=sinew]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) De Vaan explains the word from *neuros by metathesis, as in [[parvus]] beside Greek παῦρος.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Cognate with [[grc|νεῦρον|tr=neûron|t=sinew, cord]], [[sa|स्नावन्|tr=snā́van|t=sinew]], [[xcl|նեարդ|tr=neard|t=sinew]] and [[txb|ṣñaura|t=sinews]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(TLL)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan and Köbler date it from the Twelve Tables, which allow a debtor to be bound “with a ''nervus'' or with fetters” of fifteen pounds.^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010) Köbler dates the Twelve Tables to about 450 BC.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It was a sinew or tendon, and in Cicero the sinews that hold the limbs together; cutting the ''nervī'' meant hamstringing.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Tendons were used as a material, for cords and the bowstring, for the cord of a catapult, and for the strings of a lyre.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016) The ''nervus'' of the Twelve Tables was a shackle for the feet or neck of prisoners.^(OLD 2012) In Horace and Juvenal it meant the penis.^(Gaffiot 2016)

+

+ In the plural it came to mean what gives strength, as when Cicero calls revenues the ''nervī'' of the state, a person's vigour, and a state's power or resources.^(OLD 2012) In medieval medicine it was the nerve in the modern sense, with the optic and auditory nerves named.^(DMLBS) [[en|nerve]] came in the late 14th century, first for a sinew.^(Etymonline) It lives on in [[it|nervo]], [[fr|nerf]] and [[es|nervio]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 450 BC – the Twelve Tables speak of binding a debtor with a ''nervus''.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero calls revenues the sinews of the state.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * late 14th century – English ''nerve'' is recorded, first for a sinew.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|sinew]], [[m|en|tendon]], [[m|en|muscle]].^(OLD 2012)

+ # Tendon as a material; a cord, a [[m|en|bowstring]], a string (of an instrument).^(OLD 2012)

+ # A shackle for prisoners.^(OLD 2012)

+ # (plural) What gives strength, the sinews (of a thing).^(OLD 2012)

+ # (plural) Physical strength, vigour.^(OLD 2012)

+ # (plural) Power, resources.^(OLD 2012)

+ # The penis.^(Gaffiot 2016)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A [[m|en|nerve]].^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[ēnervis]]

+ * [[nervālis]]

+ * [[nerviceus]]

+ * [[nervicus]]

+ * [[nervīnus]]

+ * [[nervōsus]]

+ * [[nervulus]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[nervōsē]]

+ * [[nervōsitās]]

+ * [[natrix]]

+ * [[neō]]

+ * [[en|nerve]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}