English
sacrum
Sacrum comes from Latin os sacrum ‘holy bone’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEos sacrum‘holy bone’
- Englishtodaysacrum
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEos sacrum‘holy bone’
- Englishtodaysacrum
The story
Apparently so called either because the sacrum was the part of the animal offered in sacrifice or because of a putative belief that it is where a person's soul resides. A third explanation is that the term is a translation of Ancient Greek ἱερόν (hierón), which has two meanings: “holy, sacred”, and “big” — big being a more appropriate description of the sacrum — but.
Every English word from Latin os sacrum
Today it means
noun A large triangular bone at the base of the spine, located between the two ilia (wings of the pelvis) and formed from vertebrae that fuse in adulthood.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin os sacrum / sacrum