tergum

== English == === Etymology === Borrowed from Latin tergum (“back, rear; surface”). === Noun === tergum (plural terga) (entomology) The upper or dorsal surface of an articulated animal such as an arthropod. (botany) The back or dorsum. ==== Derived terms ==== tergal ==== Related terms ==== tergite == Latin == === Alternative forms === tergus, tegus === Etymology === Unknown. De Vaan is skeptical of the proposal that it originally referred to the hair on an animal's back and was derived from a Proto-Indo-European *(s)ter- (“to be stiff”) (compare *tr̥nós, *sterbʰ-). It has been speculated to be connected to one or more of Ancient Greek τράχηλος (trákhēlos, “neck”), Ancient Greek τρέχω (trékhō), or Latin trahō, with a debated connection to the root of English drag, draw. === Pronunciation === (Classical Latin) IPA(key): [ˈtɛr.ɡũː] (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): [ˈtɛr.ɡum] === Noun === tergum n (genitive tergī); second declension back, rear; surface tergum/terga vertere ― be on the run, to escape ==== Declension ==== Second-declension noun (neuter). ==== Derived terms ==== ā tergō terga vertere ==== Descendants ==== Italian: tergo === References === === Further reading === “tergum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press “tergum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers "tergum", 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) “tergum”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette. Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎[1], London: Macmillan and Co. Dizionario Latino, Olivetti