pollex
English edit
Etymology edit
Noun edit
pollex (plural pollices)
- The thumb; the first, or preaxial, digit of the forelimb, corresponding to the hallux in the hind limb. In birds, the pollex is the joint which bears the alula or bastard wing.
- 1955, Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita:
- We came to know the curious roadside species, Hitchhiking Man, Homo pollex of science, with all its many sub-species and forms.
Derived terms edit
See also edit
References edit
- “pollex”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
Latin edit
Etymology edit
Of uncertain origin.
Traditionally connected to Proto-Slavic *palьcь (“thumb”), with contamination from Latin polleō (“to be strong”) (hence pollex, not *pōlex). However, de Vaan is unconvinced, and instead prefers Meier-Brügger's derivation from a Proto-Italic *por-likʰ-s (“which is licked over”), from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“through”) + *leyǵʰ- (“to lick”), with the second syllable in the nominative singular becoming -lex based on the model of other body parts, such as vortex (“whirl; top of the head”) inflecting with -ex.[1]
Pronunciation edit
- (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈpol.leks/, [ˈpɔlːʲɛks̠]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈpol.leks/, [ˈpɔlːeks]
Noun edit
pollex m (genitive pollicis); third declension
- thumb
- great toe
- a unit of distance, equivalent to approximately 24.6 mm; one uncia (see also: Ancient Roman units of measurement)
- seal (insignia)
Declension edit
Third-declension noun.
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | pollex | pollicēs |
| Genitive | pollicis | pollicum |
| Dative | pollicī | pollicibus |
| Accusative | pollicem | pollicēs |
| Ablative | pollice | pollicibus |
| Vocative | pollex | pollicēs |
Derived terms edit
Descendants edit
- Catalan: polze
- French: pouce ⇒ poucier
- → Sicilian: puseri
- Italian: pollice
- Occitan: poce
- Piedmontese: pòle
- Romansch: polesch, polisch, polsch
- Sardinian: póddiche, póddighe (“finger”)
- → Czech: pólech
- → English: pollex ⇒ pollical
- → Esperanto: polekso
- → Greek: πόλεξ (pólex)
- → Portuguese: pólex, pólice
- → Romanian: police
- → Spanish: pólice
References edit
- “pollex”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “pollex”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- pollex in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
- “pollex”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray
- Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1911) “pŏllen”, in Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), page 497
- ^ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “pollex”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 478