English
vertebra
Vertebra comes from Latin vertebra ‘a joint’, from vertō ‘to turn’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wert-.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wert-‘to turn, to rotate, spin’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*wertō‘to turn’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvertō‘to turn’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEvertebra‘a joint’
- Englishearliest quotation 1886vertebra
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wert-‘to turn, to rotate, spin’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*wertō‘to turn’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvertō‘to turn’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEvertebra‘a joint’
- Englishearliest quotation 1886vertebra
Earliest quotation: 1886, – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard: “Already I seemed to hear the water rippling against…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *wert- ‘to turn, to rotate, spin’
word, worth, weird, ridiculous, universe, ridicule, derision, wurst, deride, invert, derisive, extraversion, 58 more
through Proto-Italic *wertō ‘to turn’
adverse, diversion, inverse, inversion, aversion, perverse, transverse, averse, perversion, reversion, 41 more
through Latin vertō ‘to turn’
university, version, conversation, divorce, diversity, versus, diverse, verse, vertical, advertisement, versatile, convertible, vortex, adversity, diversification, advert, divert, revert, pervert, vertigo, avert, introvert, subvert, verso, perversity, evert, vertiginous, 50 more
Today it means
noun Any of the bony or cartilaginous segments which make up the backbone, consisting in some lower vertebrates of several distinct elements which never become united, and in higher vertebrates having a short more or less cylindrical body whose ends articulate by pads of elastic or cartilaginous tissue with those of adjacent vertebrae and a bony arch that encloses the spinal cord.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *wert- / vertebra