The corpus record — Latin

membrum

body part, limb, member

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

Where it lives

Versus Paschales Pro Augusto Dicti 1 · 51.55/10k
Lydia, Appendix Vergiliana 2 · 37.52/10k
Ibis 12 · 30.53/10k
De Rerum Natura 113 · 23.19/10k
Ephemeris id est totius diei negotium 3 · 23.13/10k
Cathemerina 15 · 20.38/10k
Epigrammata Ausonii de diversis rebus 7 · 19.21/10k
Peristephanon Liber 33 · 18.78/10k
Fescinnina de nuptiis Honorii Augusti 1 · 18.25/10k
Carminum minorum corpusculum 14 · 16.58/10k
Apotheosis 12 · 16.2/10k
Medea 9 · 15.9/10k

Densest 12 of 176 attested works shown, by occurrences per 10,000 attested tokens.

What it meant

1. membrum — de Vaan

membrum 'body part, limb, member' [n. o] (Lex XII+) Derivatives: membratim 'limb by limb' (Varrcrf), membrana 'membrane, skin' (Varro*). Pit *memsro-, PIE *mems-ro- 'body-part, meaty part'. IE cognates: Olr. mir 'portion' [n.j < *mems-ro-; Skt. mamsa- 'meat', mams-pacam- [adj.f.] 'used for cooking meat', mas [acc.sg.n.] 'meat'; Gr. μήρα [ph] 'body-parts', μηρός [n.] 'thigh' < *mes-ro-; Arm. mis, Alb.rnish,OPr, … — [de Vaan, s.v. membrum, p. 384]

2. membrum — Lewis & Short

membrum, i, n.etym. dub.; perh. for mems-trum; cf. Sanscr. māmsa, flesh,

I a limb, member of the body (class.).

I Lit.: jam membrorum, id est partium corporis, alia videntur propter eorum usum a natura esse donata, ut manus, crura, pedes, etc. . . . alia quasi ad quendam ornatum, ut cauda pavoni, plumae versicolores columbis, viris mammae atque barba, Cic. Fin. 3, 5, 18; Plaut. Am. 5, 1, 66: defessa, Verg. G. 4, 438; Suet. Vesp. 20: hispida membra, Juv. 2, 11: membrum lacerum laesumve, Gell. 4, 2, 15: propter membrum ruptum talio, Gai. Inst. 3, 223.—

B In partic., = membrum virile, Auct. Priap. 70, 17. So plur. membra, Ov. Am. 3, 7, 65; cf. App. M. 5, 6, p. 161; id. ib. 10, 31, p. 254; Aus. Epigr. 120, 4.—

II Transf.

A In gen.

1 Of inanim. and abstr. things, a part, portion, division: omnes philosophiae partes atque omnia membra, Cic. N. D. 1, 4, 9: solvere quassatae parcite membra ratis, Ov. Tr. 1, 2, 2: per omnia philosophiae membra prudenter disputando currere, Amm. 16, 5, 6: eadem sunt membra in utrāque disputatione, Cic. de Or. 3, 30, 119 —

2 Of persons: Ponticus . . . Bassus . . . dulcia convictūs membra fuere mei, Ov. Tr. 4, 10, 48: membra et partes alienae potentiae, Sen. Ep. 21, 6; cf. poet.: fluctuantia membra Libyae, Sil. 2, 310.—

B Esp.

1 A member of the state: per multa membra civitas in unum tantum corpus redigitur, Just. 5, 10, 10: membra partesque imperii, Suet. Aug. 48: reipublicae totius membra, Amm. 18, 5, 1: urbis, id. 15, 7, 5: Achaei scilicet per civitates velut per membra divisi sunt, unum tamen corpus et unum imperium habent, Just. 34, 1, 2: corpore sic toto ac membris Roma usa. Sil. 12, 318: cur ut decisa atque avulsa a corpore membra despiciar, id. 1, 670.—

2 An apartment, chamber in a house: dormitorium membrum, a bed-chamber, Plin. Ep. 2, 17, 9: domūs membra, App. M. 3, 28, p. 141; 7, 1, p. 188: modus membrorum numerusque, Col. 6, 1, 1: cubicula et ejusmodi membra, Cic. ad Q. Fr. 3, 1, 1, § 2.—

3 Of speech, a member or clause of a sentence: quae Graeci ko/mmata et kw=la nominant, nos recte incisa et membra dicimus, Cic. Or. 62, 211; cf. Auct. Her. 4, 19, 26.—

4 Of the Church of Christ: singuli autem alter alterius membra, Vulg. Rom. 12, 5; cf. the context: membra sumus corporis ejus, i. e. Christ's, id. Eph. 5, 30.

3. membrum — Walde–Hofmann

membrum, -j n. „Körperglied; Glied, Teil; Satzglied" (nach gr. KüAov) (seit X tab, rom.; membratim ,ghedweise^ seit Varro, membrätüra f. , Gliederbau" seit Vitr. [vgl. corporátüra], membrösus mit grofem Clied versehen* Priap. [-i£ds „mächtiger Gliederbau* Eusta Jj membro, -äre [nur Pass. überl] „gliedweise bilden“ seit Cens. [nach corporäre usw.); Komp.: membripotens Iulian.; bimembris seit Cornif, [nach dineAoc, … — [Walde–Hofmann, s.v. membrum, p. 970]

In the wild

membra Statius, Thebais 1.585
membra Lucretius, De Rerum Natura 4.878
membra Statius, Thebais 12.285
membris Vitruvius, De Architectura 3.5.8.p2
membris Lucretius, De Rerum Natura 5.567
membra Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae 16.5.6

6 of 1,558 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. membrum (scan pp. 384-385; entry #1021). Root candidates: *memsro-, *memso-, *mes-.
Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine Treated in Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine s.v. membrum (scan p. 419; entry #6710).
Walde-Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches Worterbuch Treated in Walde-Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches Worterbuch s.v. membrum (scan pp. 970-973; entry #1745). Root candidates: *mems-, *mero-, *mämso-.

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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.