dorsum

English

Etymology

Borrowing from Latin dorsum (“the back”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈdɔː.səm/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈdɔɹ.səm/

Noun

dorsum (plural dorsa)

1. (anatomy) The back or dorsal region on the surface of an animal.

   Synonym: back

   1. The back of the tongue, used for articulating dorsal consonants.
   2. The top of the foot or the back of the hand.
2. (geology) A ridge on a hill, or on the surface of a planet or moon.
3. (astronomy) Theta Capricorni, a star on the back of the Goat.

Related terms

• dorsal, dorsumal
• dorsum sellae

Translations

back of an animal

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 背部 (zh) (bèibù)

• German: Dorsum (de) m (in anatomy), Rücken (de) m

back of the tongue

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 舌背 (zh) (shébèi)

• German: Dorsum linguae (anatomy), Dorsum (de) (linguistics), Zungenrücken

top of the foot or back of the hand

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 腳背／脚背 (zh) (jiǎobèi); 手背 (zh) (shǒubèi)

ridge on a hill

• German: Dorsum (de) m

References

• “dorsum”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “dorsum”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

Anagrams

• dromus, dumsor

Latin

Alternative forms

• dorsus (masculine)
• dossum ('vulgar' form with assimilation of /rs/)

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *dorsom, with no certain cognates in any other Indo-European languages. Has been linked to deorsum (“downwards”) < *dēvorsum, but their contemporaneous use suggests that one was not a phonetic development of the other. A potential connection with a Proto-Celtic *dros-man, giving Old Irish druimm (“back, ridge”), is unclear.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈdor.sum/, [ˈd̪ɔrs̠ʊ̃ˑ]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈdor.sum/, [ˈd̪ɔrsum]

Noun

dorsum n (genitive dorsī); second declension

1. (anatomy) the back (part of the body between the neck and buttocks)
2. (transferred sense) the ridge, summit of a hill, a reef in the sea; any elevation
   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 1.108-110:

     Trīs Notus abreptās in saxa latentia torquet —
     saxa vocant Italī mediīs quae in flūctibus ārās —
     dorsum immāne marī summō [...].

     Three [ships] were taken away [by] the Southwind, hurled into hidden rocks – rocks the Italians call the Altars, which [are] in the middle of the waves – a vast reef near the surface of the sea.
     (This “vast reef” or “huge ridge” posed a hidden danger; understood more imaginatively, a “monstrous spine” of rock destroyed the ships. Notus was the Greek south wind.)

   • Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita I, 3:

     Quae ab situ porrectae in dorso urbis Longa Alba appellata

     This [new city] was named Alba Longa, from its position, as it lay stretched out along the ridge

Inflection

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	dorsum	dorsa
Genitive	dorsī	dorsōrum
Dative	dorsō	dorsīs
Accusative	dorsum	dorsa
Ablative	dorsō	dorsīs
Vocative	dorsum	dorsa

Antonyms

• venter

Derived terms

• dorsālis, dorsuālis

Descendants

• Vulgar Latin: dossum (see there for further descendants)
• → Catalan: dors
• → English: dorsum
• → Esperanto: dorso
• → Italian: dorso
• → Portuguese: dorso
• → Spanish: dorso

References

• “dorsum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “dorsum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• dorsum 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)
• dorsum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette