Cognate Set 1264 – Meaning: leg

IE-CoR reference form:
gamba
IE-CoR reference language:
Latin
Ideophonic:
no
Parallel derivation:
no
Loan event:
yes
Parallel loan event:
no
Loan source language:
Greek: Ancient
Source lexeme in loan source language:
καμπή / kampḗ
Loan notes:
Borrowed into Latin from Ancient Greek as a terminus technicus; acquired specialised meaning 'leg' only later in Romance.
Justification:
Romance lexemes from Latin camba, gamba 'horse's ankle' (Meyer-Lübke 1935:143, von Wartburg 1922–2002 2:111-120), most likely to be a loanword from Ancient Greek καμπή 'a bending, winding' in the technical language of horse veterinarians and breeders (Ernout & Meillet 1985:267).
Found in clades:
Italic
Revised by:
Matthew Scarborough
Found in 1 clade by 14 lexemes.
Language Lexeme Native script Phonetic Phonemic Notes
141   Catalan cama ˈkamə ˈkamə
136   French jambe ʒɑ̃ːb ʒɑ̃b
129   Italian gamba ˈɡamba ˈɡamba
131   Ladin giama ˈdʒama
137   Walloon djambe d͡ʒãb d͡ʒãb
130   Friulian gjambe ˈɟaŋʷbe ˈɟambe
133   Sardinian: Nuoro camma ˈkamma ˈkamma cf. lexeme 20018
134   Sardinian: Logudoro camba ˈkamba ˈkamba
135   Anglo-Norman jambe
139   Franco-Provençal shanba ˈθɒ̃bɐ ˈθɔ̃ba
138   Old Occitan camba also: cama
140   Old Catalan cama kamə kamə
127   Dalmatian: Vegliote gu̯anb ɡwamb Could be a loanword (Ven. gamba).
132   Milanese gàmba ˈɡamba
References
  • Ernout, Alfred and Meillet, Antoine: 267
    S.v. Lat. gamba, -ae 'patte, jarret du cheval et, plus généralement, des quadrupèdes'. A likely borrowing from Greek καμπή 'bending, winding' in the specialised language of Greek veterinarians or breeders.
  • Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm: 142
    S.v. 1539 Lat. camba (griech.) 'Bein'.
  • von Wartburg, Walther: 2:111-120
    S.v. Lat. camba 'sprunggelenk der Pferde' > Fr. jambe 'Bein'.