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The corpus record — Latin

lacertus

lacertus

upper arm

Generated live from the audited Latin corpus — every figure on this page is a database query, not prose from memory.

Where it lives

Densest 12 of 82 attested works shown, by occurrences per 10,000 attested tokens.

What it meant

1. lacertus — de Vaan

lacertus 'upper arm' [m. o] (LuciL+; also n. lacertum) Derivatives: lacertosus 'muscular' (Varro+), lacerta / lacertus 'lizard; Spanish mackerel' (Cic.+). IEW proposes a connection with Gr. λάξ, λάγδην [adv.] 'with the foot', λάκτις, -ιος 'pestle' on the one hand, and OIc. leggr 'lower leg, bone', arm-, hand-leggr 'arm', fit-, Icer-Ieggr 'calf of the leg' (< *lagi-\ Langob. lagi 'thigh' on the other hand. None of … — [de Vaan, s.v. lacertus, p. 335]

2. lăcertus — Lewis & Short

lăcertus, i, m.,

I the muscular part of the arm, from the shoulder to the elbow, the upper arm.
I Lit., opp. bracchium, the forearm, Lucr. 4, 829; cf.: laudat digitosque manusque, Bracchiaque et nudos mediā plus parte lacertos, Ov. M. 1, 501; and: subjecta lacertis brachia sunt, id. ib. 14, 304; cf. also Quint. 8 prooem. 19: brachia quoque et lacertos auro colunt, Curt. 8, 9, 21.—
II Transf.
A The arm (esp. as brawny, muscular): nam scutum gladium galeam in onere nostri milites non plus numerant quam umeros, lacertos, manus, Cic. Tusc. 2, 16, 37: Milo Crotoniates nobilitatus ex lateribus et lacertis suis, Cic. de Sen. 9, 27: excusso lacerto telum torquere, Sen. Ben. 2, 6; Prop. 2, 18 (3, 15), 37: lacertos collo imponere, Ov. H. 16, 219: lacerto jaculari, id. Am. 3, 12, 27: amplecti, id. ib. 3, 8, 11: candida cingantur colla lacertis, id. A. A. 2, 457: laevus, Verg. A. 11, 693; Hor. S. 1, 6, 74: adducto contortum hastile lacerto immittit, Verg. A. 11, 561: secto requiem sperare lacerto, Juv. 6, 106. —Of bees: spicula exacuunt rostris, aptantque lacertos, i. e. make trial of, Verg. G. 4, 74.—
B Transf.
1 A blow or cast from a strong arm, Sil. 16, 562; 1, 262.—
2 Trop., muscular power, muscle, strength, military force: in Lysia saepe sunt lacerti, sic ut fieri nihil possit valentius, Cic. Brut. 16, 64: hastas oratoris lacertis viribusque torquere, id. de Or. 1, 57, 242: me civilis tulit aestus in arma, Caesaris Augusti non responsura lacertis, Hor. Ep. 2, 2, 48; Flor. prooem. § 8: viribus confisus admirandisque lacertis, Juv. 10, 11.

3. lăcertus — Lewis & Short

lăcertus, i,

I a lizard; a sea-fish; v. lacerta.

4. lacertus — Walde–Hofmann

lacertus, i m. (meist Plur.; -a n. Ace. trag. 222, vgl. eäseus: cäseum usw.) „die Muskeln, bes. des Oberarms und dieser selbst“; übtr. „Stärke, Kraft“ (seit Lucil, rom.; Jaeertulus Apul, lacertósus [-uósus Cl.] seit Varro und Cic.): aus *lacer-tos bzw. *lacro-tos, vel. formell gr. AwepriZew* cxiprüv Hes. (anders, aber unwrsch., Kalén 744 lacertus — lacıd. Quaest. gr. gr.89 [von *ıx-eprig); s. u.), ai. Jakufah, … — [Walde–Hofmann, s.v. lacertus, p. 775]

In the wild

6 of 340 attestations shown.

Where it came from

  • de Vaan, Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Brill 2008) Treated in de Vaan, Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Brill 2008) s.v. lacertus (scan p. 335; entry #857).
  • Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine Treated in Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine s.v. lacertus (scan p. 360; entry #5645).
  • Walde-Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches Worterbuch Treated in Walde-Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches Worterbuch s.v. lacertus (scan pp. 775-776; entry #1470). Root candidates: *lakrta-, *lög-, *leig-.

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Latin text and lemmatization derived from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-latinLit), CC BY-SA 4.0. Lewis & Short (public domain) via Perseus. This derived data is shared under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 license.