pollex

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin pollex.

Noun

pollex (plural pollices)

1. 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

• pollical
• pollicate

See also

• hallux

References

• “pollex”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Latin

Etymology

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.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈpol.leks/, [ˈpɔlːʲɛks̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈpol.leks/, [ˈpɔlːeks]

Noun

pollex m (genitive pollicis); third declension

1. thumb
2. great toe
3. a unit of distance, equivalent to approximately 24.6 mm; one uncia (see also: Ancient Roman units of measurement)
4. seal (insignia)

Declension

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

• pollicāris
• *pollicāta

Descendants

• 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

• “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