Recline to Dine

Ruth from Traverse City called in to share two words that she came across, cubitus and decubitus.

Cubitus is a vein in an insect wing. In origin, it is indebted to the cubit, the part of the arm from the elbow downward. Decubitus was the manner or posture of lying on a bed. It came from a Latin word meaning to lie down.

Gary from Burt Lake called in a likely connection between the words. In ancient times, people reclined upon couches during a banquet, supporting themselves upon an elbow.

This is confirmed in a history book: “The prophet Amos is the first sacred writer to refer to the custom of "[stretching] themselves upon their couches" when eating (Amos 6:4). By the time of Jesus, the Roman custom of reclining on couches at supper (accumbendi) had been adopted in some Jewish circles. The Roman table and couches combined was called a triclinium. There were three couches which were located on the three sides of a square, the fourth side being left open, so that a servant could get on the inside to assist in serving the meal. The guest's position was to recline with the body's upper part resting on the left arm, and the head raised, and a cushion at the back, and the lower part of the body stretched out.” [Manners And Customs of Bible Lands by Fred H. Wight ]

The Oxford English Dictionary had this example from J. Arbuthnot’s Tables of Ancient Coins, v. 134, 1727. “The Roman recumbent or (more properly) accumbent posture in eating was introduc'd after the first Punick War.”

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What’s A Nice Bone Like You Doing In A Joint Like This?

I sprained my ankle a couple of days ago, so I guess I’m simply joint conscious at the moment. Any way, I started thinking about the words that we use to name various major joints.

The word joint itself is quite transparent. It’s a junction, the place where two bones join. The Latin jungere meant to join, and that’s the source.

Ankle evolved from the Latin after being sieved through Frisian, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, and other cousins. A bent crook, claw, or hook is the image evoked. Dangle your ankle in the ocean, and you just may catch a shark.

Knee came from the Greek word for knee after filtering though a number of Teutonic influences. A flexible word, it was applied metaphorically through the centuries to an angular piece of timber or metal, a piece connecting the bench and runner of a sleigh, the lower end of a handrail, or a degree of descent in a genealogy.

The hip joint had Old Teutonic and Old Gothic precedents meaning, quite directly, the hip. In architecture, it’s a projecting inclined edge on a roof, extending from the ridge or apex to the eaves, and having a slope on each side.

The word elbow breaks into two components. The el- segment comes from the Latin ulna, the large inner bone of the forearm. The -bow segment comes from Frisian/Teutonic/Norse words meaning something bent.

Shoulder tumbled through the usual northern language suspects meaning the two arm joints near the neck. Of all the joints, it probably had more figurative uses than any of the others. Recall straight from the shoulder, shoulder of the road, a shoulder to cry on, shoulder to the wheel, and shoulder surfing.

SIDEBAR: Skeletal Joints


Now available from McFarland & Co.: Word Parts Dictionary, 2nd edition

Check out Mike's program-based books here:
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http://arbutuspress.com/index.html
or at Amazon.com

Listen to Mike’s program in real time every Tuesday morning, 9:00 - 10:00 a.m. EST, by going to wtcmradio.com and clicking on Listen Now. There is now an archive of podcasts. Look under The Ron Jolly Show.

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