bracchium Latin · revision 6322

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=Plautus|origins=grc βραχίων}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈbrak.kʰi.ũː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈbrak.ki.um]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''bracchium''' ''n'' (genitive bracchiī or bracchī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|grc|βραχίων|tr=brakhíōn|t=arm]].^(Wiktionary)^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016) Lewis and Short prefer the spelling ⟨bracchium⟩ to ⟨brāchium⟩.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The OLD's first citations for the arm are from Plautus.^(OLD 2012) Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It meant the forearm, as in Celsus, and the whole arm, as used in gestures, as a measure, as in Cato, and in phrases such as ''bracchia dare'' “to surrender” and ''mollī bracchiō'' “half-heartedly”.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016) Of animals it meant a forelimb, a crab's claw or a polyp's tentacle, as in Pliny the Elder, and of trees a branch.^(OLD 2012) It meant objects like an arm: a yard-arm, as in Virgil, the arm of a catapult, a leg of a pair of compasses, a spur of land or arm of the sea, a mole of a harbour, and in war an outwork linking two fortified points, as in Propertius and Livy.^(OLD 2012) An inscription of 123/122 BC has ''bracio''.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ In Medieval Latin it meant an arm, and an animal's forelimb.^(DMLBS) It survives in Italian ''braccio'', French ''bras'', Spanish ''brazo'' and Romanian ''braț''.^(Wiktionary) [[en|brachial]] comes from ''bracchiālis'', and [[en|pretzel]] goes back through German to a Medieval Latin *brachitella, a biscuit shaped like folded arms.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

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

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

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a yard-arm and a harbour mole.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1836 – English ''pretzel'' is recorded.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The forearm; the [[m|en|arm]].^(OLD 2012)

+ # A forelimb; a claw; a tentacle.^(OLD 2012)

+ # A branch.^(OLD 2012)

+ # A yard-arm; an arm of a machine.^(OLD 2012)

+ # A spur of land; an arm of the sea; a harbour mole.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(military)'' A connecting line of fortification.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[bracchiātus]]

+ * [[bracchiolum]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[bracchiālis]]

+ * [[lacertus]]

+ * [[en|brachial]]

+ * [[en|pretzel]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}