pectus

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Italic *pektos

Latin pectusbor.

English pectus

Borrowed from Latin pectus.

Noun

pectus (plural pectora)

1. (anatomy, zoology) The breast, especially of a bird.

Related terms

• pectoral
• pectus excavatum
• pectus carinatum

Anagrams

• cupset

Latin

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Italic *pektos. Likely cognate with Old Irish ucht, but a Proto-Indo-European precursor is uncertain, as is the connection to Sanskrit पक्ष (pakṣá, “wing”). Suggestions include *pekt-, *pek- and *peg- (“breast”). (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈpɛk.tʊs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈpɛk.tus]

Noun

pectus n (genitive pectoris); third declension

1. chest, breast
   • c. 100 CE – 110 CE, Tacitus, Historiae 1.41:

     Ceteri crura brachiaque (nam pectus tegebatur) foede laniavere; pleraque vulnera feritate et saevitia trunco iam corpori adiecta.

     The rest foully tore apart his legs and arms (for his chest was covered); a great many wounds were put upon his body with fierceness and savagery, [even] after his head had been cut off.

2. (figuratively) heart, breast, as the seat of emotion

   Synonym: cor

3. (figuratively) soul, spirit, mind, understanding

   Synonym: animus

   • 8 CE, Ovidius, 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).)

4. person, individual (as a being of passion)

   Synonyms: persona, caput

Declension

Third-declension noun (neuter, imparisyllabic non-i-stem).

	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
• *pectorīna
• pectorōsus
• pectusculum
• Pectuscum Palātī
• tripectorus

Descendants

• Aragonese: peito
• Aromanian: cheptu, chieptu
• Asturian: pechu
• Catalan: pit
• Emilian: pèt
• Old French: piz
  • French: pis, poitrine
  • Bourguignon: peis, poitreigne
• Friulian: pet
• Istriot: pitto
• Istro-Romanian: kľept, chiept
• Italian: petto
  • → Spanish: peto
• Megleno-Romanian: kľept, chiept
• Occitan: pitre, pièch
• Piedmontese: pèt, pècc
• Old Galician-Portuguese: peito
  • Galician: peito
  • Portuguese: peito (see there for further descendants)
• Romanian: piept
• Romansh: pet, pèz
• Sardinian: pettus, petorra, peturra, piturra
• Sicilian: pettu
• Spanish: pecho
• Venetan: peto

See also

• pectō
• sinus

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^[1], 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)
    
• pectus in Ramminger, Johann (16 July 2016 (last accessed)), Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎^[2], pre-publication website, 2005-2016