vertex Latin · revision 8497
16 Oct 2026, 16:03 by bogdan “New Latin entry (sources: de Vaan, OLD, Lewis & Short, TLL...)” current version
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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=Accius|origins=la vertō}}
+
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈwɛr.tɛks]^(Wiktionary)
+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈvɛr.teks]^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Forms==
+ '''vertex''' ''m'' (genitive verticis); third declension^(Wiktionary)
+ ''Vortex'' is cited by Quintilian as an archaic form; the grammarian Caper's distinction between ''vortex'' “whirlpool” and ''vertex'' “crown of the head” is not borne out by the manuscripts.^(OLD 2012)
+
+ ==Etymology==
+ It is from [[vertō]] “to turn”, with the ending of [[pōdex]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Etymonline) Isidore explains the ⟨vertex⟩ as the part of the head where the hair gathers and turns.^(Isidore)
+
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ The OLD's earliest citation is from Accius, of a whirlpool.^(OLD 2012) Köbler dates Accius 170–c. 90 BC.^(Köbler 2010)
+
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ It meant a whirlpool, eddy, as in Accius, and in Cicero the crown of the head, from which the hair radiates.^(OLD 2012) In Pacuvius it meant the top of a mountain, a summit, and in Cicero the pole of the heavens or the earth.^(OLD 2012)
+
+ In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant the crown of the head, the highest point, peak, summit, pole, eddy.^(Stelten 1995) British Medieval Latin used it for the top, summit, also figuratively.^(DMLBS) It was borrowed into Italian ''vertice'' and Spanish ''vértice'', and gave [[en|vertex]] in the 1560s, in geometry.^(Wiktionary)^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Timeline==
+ * 170–c. 90 BC – Accius uses it of a whirlpool.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 220–130 BC – Pacuvius uses it of a summit.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the crown of the head and the pole.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 1560s – English ''vertex'' is recorded.^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Meanings==
+ ===Noun===
+ # A [[m|en|whirlpool]], eddy.^(OLD 2012)
+ # The crown of the head.^(OLD 2012)
+ # A [[m|en|summit]], peak.^(OLD 2012)
+ # A [[m|en|pole]] (of the heavens or the earth).^(OLD 2012)
+
+ ==Word family==
+ * [[bivertex]]
+ * [[quinquevertex]]
+ * [[verticillus]]
+ * [[verticōsus]]
+ * [[uerticula]]
+
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[vertō]]
+ * [[vortex]]
+ * [[en|vertex]]
+ * [[en|vertical]]
+
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}