nervus

Latin

Etymology

By a metathesis of Old Latin *neuros, from Proto-Italic *(s)nēuros, a thematicization of Proto-Indo-European *snḗh₁wr̥ (“sinew, tendon”). Cognates include Ancient Greek νεῦρον (neûron, “tendon, string, nerve”), Old English sinu (“tendon, nerve, sinew”). More at English nerve.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈnɛr.wʊs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈnɛr.vus]

Noun

nervus m (genitive nervī); second declension

1. (anatomy) a sinew, tendon, nerve
   1. a muscle

      Synonyms: torus, mūsculus, lacertus

      • 8 CE, Ovidius, Metamorphoses 8.363–364:

        […] : trepidantem et terga parantem
        vertere succiso liquerunt poplite nervi.

        (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   2. (figuratively) vigor, force, power, strength, energy, nerve

      Synonyms: vīs, opēs, virtūs

   3. (also in the plural) the penis

      Synonyms: mentula, pēnis

      • c. 30 BCE, Horatius, Epodi 12.18–20:

        Cum mihi Cous adesset Amyntas,
        cuius in indomito constantior inguine nervus
        quam nova collibus arbor inhaeret.

        (please add an English translation of this quotation)

      • c. 27 CE – 66 CE, Petronius, Satyricon 131.5–6:

        […] admotisque manibus temptare coepit inguinum vires. Dicto citius nervi paruerunt imperio, manusque aniculae ingenti motu repleverunt.

        (please add an English translation of this quotation)

      • c. 100 CE – c. 130 CE, Juvenalis, Saturae 3.9.32–34:

        Fata regunt homines, fatum est et partibus illis
        quas sinus abscondit. Nam si tibi sidera cessant,
        nil faciet longi mensura incognita nerui,
        […]

        (please add an English translation of this quotation)

      • c. 100 CE – c. 130 CE, Juvenalis, Saturae 4.10.204–205:

        […] ; nam coitus iam longa oblivio, vel si
        coneris, iacet exiguus cum ramice nervus
        et, quamvis tota palpetur nocte, iacebit.

        (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. a cord, string, thong or wire

   Near-synonyms: fūnis, restis, rū̆dēns

   1. the string of a musical instrument

      Synonyms: chorda, fīlum, fidēs

      Holonym: lyra

      1. (synecdochic, in the plural) a lyre
   2. a bowstring

      Coordinate terms: verber, lōrum

      Holonym: arcus

      • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Vergilius, Aeneis 9.621–623:

        Tālia iactantem dictīs ac dīra canentem
        nōn tulit Ascanius, nervōque obversus equīnō
        contendit tēlum […]

        (please add an English translation of this quotation)

      1. (synecdochic) a bow
   3. cords or wires by which a puppet is moved
      • c. 35 BCE, Horatius, Sermones 2.7.80–82:

        nempe
        tu, mihi qui imperitas, aliis servis miser atque
        duceris ut nervis alienis mobile lignum.

        (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   4. a thong or iron chains with which a person's feet (or neck) was bound: fetters [first attested in the Twelve Tables]

      Near-synonyms: vinculum, compēs; carcer

      • 449 BCE, Lex duodecim tabularum 3.3:

        vincito aut nervo aut compedibus

        (please add an English translation of this quotation)

      • [2nd century CE, Sextus Pompeius Festus, edited by Karl Otfried Müller, De Significatione Verborum, published 1839, page 165, lines 23-26; epitomized by Paul the Deacon, 8th c.:

        Nervum appellamus etiam ferreum vinculum, quo pedes impediuntur. quamquam Plautus eo etiam cervices vinciri ait: “Perfidiose captus edepol nervo cervices probat.”

        (please add an English translation of this quotation)]

      1. (metonymic) a prison
3. the leather with which shields were covered

   Hypernym: corium

   Holonyms: scūtum, parma, clipeus

   • c. 83 CE – 96 CE, Silius Italicus, Punica 4.293:

     Fugit illa per oras
     multiplicis lini subtextaque tegmina neruis
     atque altum tota metitur cuspide pectus.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • c. 117 CE, Tacitus, Annales 2.14:

     Denserent ictus, ora mucronibus quaererent: non loricam Germano, non galeam, ne scuta quidem ferro nervove firmata, sed viminum textus vel tenuis et fucatas colore tabulas; […]

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

4. (of plants) a fiber (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?)

Declension

Second-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	nervus	nervī
genitive	nervī	nervōrum
dative	nervō	nervīs
accusative	nervum	nervōs
ablative	nervō	nervīs
vocative	nerve	nervī

Derived terms

• ēnervis
• Nerva
• nervālis
• nerviceus
• nervicus
• nervīnus
• nervōsus
• nervulus

Related terms

• nervōsē
• nervōsitās

Descendants

• Dalmatian: niar
• → English: nerve
• French: nerf
• Friulian: gnerf
• → German: Nerv
• → Hunsrik: Nerrev
• Italian: nerbo, nervo
• → Luxembourgish: Nerv
• → Macedonian: нерв (nerv)
• Norwegian:
  • → Norwegian Bokmål: nerve
  • → Norwegian Nynorsk: nerve
• Piedmontese: nerv
• Portuguese: nervo
• Romanian: nerv
• → Russian: нерв (nerv)
• → Old Czech: nerv
  • → Czech: nerv
• → Welsh: nerf
• Sicilian: nerbu, nervu
• ⇒ Vulgar Latin: nervium
  • Asturian: nerviu
  • Catalan: nervi
  • Galician: nervio
  • Spanish: nervio

Further reading

• “nervus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “nervus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "nervus", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “nervus”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to strain every nerve, do one's utmost in a matter: omnes nervos in aliqua re contendere
    
  • to strain every nerve, do one's utmost in a matter: omnibus viribusor nervis contendere, ut
    
  • instrumental music: nervorum et tibiarum cantus
    
  • vocal and instrumental music: vocum et fidium (nervorum) cantus
    
  • to strike the strings of the lyre: pellere nervos in fidibus
    
• “nervus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “nervus”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin

Anagrams

• vē̆rnus

Old French

Etymology

From Latin nervōsus.

Adjective

nervus m (oblique and nominative feminine singular nervuse)

1. sinew; tendon (attributively)