membrum

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *memzrom, from Proto-Indo-European *mḗms, *mēms-rom (“flesh”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈmem.brum/, [ˈmɛmbrʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈmem.brum/, [ˈmɛmbrum]

Noun

membrum n (genitive membrī); second declension

1. (anatomy) limb of the body; member.
2. (euphemistic) the penis (membrum virīle)
3. a portion, division
4. apartment, room in a house
5. member of the state
6. (Late Latin, Christianity) member of the Body of Christ, member of the church
7. (grammar) clause of a sentence

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	membrum	membra
Genitive	membrī	membrōrum
Dative	membrō	membrīs
Accusative	membrum	membra
Ablative	membrō	membrīs
Vocative	membrum	membra

Derived terms

• bimembris
• membrāna
• membrātim
• membrātūra
• membrō
• membrōsus
• membrum virīle

Descendants

• Asturian: miembru
• Catalan: membre
• → Old French: membre
  • French: membre
    • → Romanian: membru
  • → Middle English: membre
    • English: member
• → Old Irish: membur
  • Middle Irish: memmur
    • Irish: meamar
• Italian: membro
• Occitan: membre
• Piedmontese: menbro
• Old Galician-Portuguese: nembro, membro
  • Galician: membro; nembro
  • Portuguese: membro
• Romansch: member
• Sardinian: membru
• Spanish: miembro
• →⇒ Welsh: mymryn

References

• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “membrum”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), volumes 6/1: Mabile–Mephitis, page 693

Further reading

• “membrum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “membrum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• membrum 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)
• membrum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to be affected by disease in every limb; to be paralysed: omnibus membris captum esse