pollex

English

Etymology

Borrowed fromLatinpollex.

Noun

pollex(pluralpollicesor(rare)pollexes)

1. Thethumb;thefirst,orpreaxial,digitof theforelimb,corresponding to thehalluxin thehindlimb.In birds, the pollex is thejointwhich bears thealulaorbastard wing.
   • 1949April,Harry Holbert Turney-High,“Distinguishing Characteristics of the Primates”, inGeneral Anthropology,New York, N.Y.:Thomas Y. Crowell Company,part 1 (Basic Concepts and Data), section 2 (The Organic Man),page28:

     The Simiidae have a man-like appearance. They possess neither tails nor bestial cheek pouches. Their arms are longer than their legs, and they have opposablepollexesand a broad sternum.

   • 1955,Vladimir Nabokov,Lolita,1st American edition, New York, N.Y.:G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons,published August 1958,→OCLC,part 2,page161:

     We came to know the curious roadside species, Hitchhiking Man,Homopollexof science, with all its many sub-species and forms:[…]

   • 1977June 26, Chris Peck, “Purple thumbs tell of tool machines”, inTimes-News,72nd year, number252,Twin Falls, Ida.,page 5,column 1:

     Then there are the amateur carpenters. Poor, misguided devils. They bring purple thumbs back to work. Purplepollexesbecause they smashed the daylights out of their digits trying to drive four penny finishing nails into flimsy bits of moulding.

   • 1996June, Hsiao-Wei Kao, Ernest S. Chang, “Homeotic Transformation of Crab Walking Leg into Claw by Autotransplantation of Claw Tissue”, in Michael J. Greenberg, editor,The Biological Bulletin,volume190,number 3, Woods Hole, Mass.:Marine Biological Laboratory,→ISSN,page317,column 2:

     Among the crabs with abnormal legs, one leg had twopollexesand three dactyls (Fig. 4B), one had a Y-shaped dactyl (Fig. 4C), two had clawlike dactyls (Fig. 4D), and the rest of the abnormal legs had a curved structure.

Derived terms

• pollical
• pollicate

See also

• hallux

References

• “pollex”,inWebster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary,Springfield, Mass.:G. & C. Merriam,1913,→OCLC.

Latin

Etymology

Of uncertain origin.

Traditionally connected toProto-Slavic*palьcь(“thumb”),with contamination fromLatinpolleō(“to be strong”)(hencepollex,not*pōlex). However, de Vaan is unconvinced, and instead prefersMeier-Brügger's derivation from aProto-Italic*por-likʰ-s(“which is licked over”),fromProto-Indo-European*per-(“through”)+*leyǵʰ-(“to lick”),with the second syllable in the nominative singular becoming-lexbased on the model of other body parts, such asvortex(“whirl; top of the head”)inflecting with-ex.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin)IPA^(key):/ˈpol.leks/,[ˈpɔlːʲɛks̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical)IPA^(key):/ˈpol.leks/,[ˈpɔlːeks]

Noun

pollexm(genitivepollicis);third declension

1. thumb
2. big toe
3. aunitofdistance,equivalenttoapproximately24.6mm;oneuncia(see also:Ancient Roman units of measurement)
4. seal(insignia)

Declension

Third-declensionnoun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	pollex	pollicēs
Genitive	pollicis	pollicum
Dative	pollicī	pollicibus
Accusative	pollicem	pollicēs
Ablative	pollice	pollicibus
Vocative	pollex	pollicēs

Derived terms

• pollicāris
• *pollicāta

Descendants

• Catalan:polze
• French:pouce⇒poucier
  • →Sicilian:puseri
• Italian:pollice
• Occitan:poce
• Piedmontese:pòle
• Romansch:polesch,polisch,polsch
• Sardinian:póddiche,póddighe(“finger”)
• →Czech:pólech
• →English:pollex⇒pollical
• →Esperanto:polekso
• →Greek:πόλεξ(pólex)
• →Portuguese:pólex,pólice
• →Romanian:police
• →Spanish:pólice

References

• “pollex”,inCharlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879)A Latin Dictionary,Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “pollex”,inCharlton T. Lewis (1891)An Elementary Latin Dictionary,New York: Harper & Brothers
• pollexin Charles du Fresne du Cange’sGlossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis(augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “pollex”,inWilliam Smith, editor (1848),A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology,London: John Murray
• Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm(1911) “pŏllen”, inRomanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch(in German),page497