pectus
English
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin pectus.
Noun
pectus (plural pectora)
- (anatomy, zoology) The breast, especially of a bird.
Related terms
- pectoral
- pectus excavatum
- pectus carinatum
Anagrams
- cupset
Latin
Etymology
From Proto-Italic *pektos, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peg- (“breast”). Cognate with Old Irish ucht.[1]
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈpek.tus/, [ˈpɛkt̪ʊs̠]
- (Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈpek.tus/, [ˈpɛkt̪us]
Noun
pectus n (genitive pectoris); third declension
- chest, breast
- (figuratively) heart, breast, as the seat of emotion
- Synonym: cor
- (figuratively) soul, spirit, mind, understanding
- 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 6.509:
- ‘ō nimium facilēs, ō tōtō pectore captae!’
- “O too easy [souls]! O [those] with every spirit having been captured!”
(That is to say, easy to deceive and entirely believing. Several figurative translations are possible. The poetic voice is that of Juno (mythology).)
- “O too easy [souls]! O [those] with every spirit having been captured!”
- ‘ō nimium facilēs, ō tōtō pectore captae!’
- Synonym: animus
- person, individual (as a being of passion)
- Synonyms: persona, caput
Declension
Third-declension noun (neuter, imparisyllabic non-i-stem).
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | pectus | pectora |
| Genitive | pectoris | pectorum |
| Dative | pectorī | pectoribus |
| Accusative | pectus | pectora |
| Ablative | pectore | pectoribus |
| Vocative | pectus | pectora |
Derived terms
- appectorō
- expectorō
- in pectore
- pectorāle
- pectorālis
- pectorōsus
- pectusculum
- Pectuscum Palātī
- tripectorus
Descendants
- Aragonese: peito
- Aromanian: cheptu, chieptu
- Asturian: pechu
- Catalan: pit
- French: pis, poitrine
- Friulian: pet
- Galician: peito
- Istriot: pitto
- Istro-Romanian: kľept, chiept
- Italian: petto
- Megleno-Romanian: kľept, chiept
- Occitan: pitre, pièch
- Piedmontese: pèt, pècc
- Portuguese: peito
- Romanian: piept
- Romansch: pet, pèz
- Sardinian: pettus, petorra, peturra, piturra
- Sicilian: pettu
- Spanish: pecho, peto
- Venetian: peto
From a Vulgar Latin *pectorīna:
- French: poitrine
- Spanish: pretina
- Italian: pettorina
- Sicilian: pitturina
See also
- pectō
- sinus
References
- De Vaan, Michiel (2008) Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN
Further reading
- “pectus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “pectus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- pectus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette
- Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book, London: Macmillan and Co.
- the water is up to, is above, the chest: aqua pectus aequat, superat
- to take a thing to heart: demittere aliquid in pectus or in pectus animumque suum
- what he said made a deep impression on..: hoc verbum alte descendit in pectus alicuius
- to love some one very dearly, with all one's heart: aliquem toto pectore, ut dicitur, amare (Leg. 18. 49)
- to inspire with religious feeling, with the fear of God: imbuere (vid. sect. VII. 7, note imbuere...) pectora religione
- to plunge one's sword in some one's breast: gladium alicui in pectus infigere
- to transfix, pierce a man's breast with one's sword: gladio aliquem per pectus transfigere (Liv. 2. 46)
- the water is up to, is above, the chest: aqua pectus aequat, superat
- pectus in Ramminger, Johann (accessed 16 July 2016) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700, pre-publication website, 2005-2016