Etymological History of the Word Arm

Evan Coley
Dr. Rehyansky
Modern English Grammar
4/15/2010

Etymological History of the Word Arm

Etymological histories tend to be a bit drab. All you do for several thousand words is talk about one specific word and different ways it has been used throughout history, showing by examples galore and then vivisecting forms and discussing in detail that which would already bore the most patient of men. It is sad to say that this is not much different. The word arm has a lengthy history which traces its roots across several continents, has seen several relevant transitions, and has lasted for over a thousand years. Over the course of its usage, arm has been used as a noun, as a verb, and even as an adjective, albeit it was used adjectivally an ephemeral amount of time comparatively. All this time, arm has shown remarkable longevity and consistency in the ways in which it has been used, compared to the obsoletion which many words face in a battle with time. This timeless word has shown up in Christian apologetics, calls to war, poetry, and many of the government documents various countries have used over the course of time. It’s always best to start at the beginning, so let’s begin at the word’s inception, around the middle of the 10th Century AD.

The first known use of the word in a somewhat modern form of the word arm is the same way that is used most commonly today. That is, it is used simply as a biological identifier to talk about the appendage that extends from our shoulders down to our hands – but excluding the hand itself (Oxford English Dictionary arm, n.1). To talk about the origins of this word geographically is to trace a long and complicated history. Essentially, though, different forms of the word moved across Europe on a westward track as a series of affixes followed by a series of actual full morphemes. It originated in ancient Sanskrit – one of the oldest Indo-European languages – from the Aryan root ar- meaning “to join” (Oxford English Dictionary arm, n.1). From there, we see its movement from eastern Europe into Greece and then slightly more westward into the boot of Italy. We will see much more of its history in these places in further uses. Where it begins to move westward towards its use in England, and subsequently America, is its movement into the Germanic languages. We see forms of arm in multiple different Germanic languages such as Old Teutonic, Gothic, Old Norse, Old High German, Old Frisian, and Old Low German (Oxford English Dictionary arm, n.1). The languages were fairly prominent in modern day Germany as well as surrounding Scandinavian countries. We know that these Germanic languages had a huge influence on Old English, as well as Middle English and Modern Day English. It is this influence which has essentially generated many commonplace words that we use consistently today. Our biological term arm is one of these words.
One of the earliest places that this use can be seen is in the Lindisfarne Gospel of Luke. The Lindisfarne Gospels are a series of books composed in the 8th century which had the entire Vulgar translation of the four canonical gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) of the Bible as well as ornate, colorful decorations throughout to accompany the text (citation). At a later date, around 950 AD, the Gospels were translated into Anglo-Saxon and were then included as parts of the modern day Lindisfarne Gospel. In the Lindisfarne version of Luke 2:28, it reads, “He onfeng him on armum his” (Oxford English Dictionary arm, n.1). In the KJV, this has been translated as, “Then took he him up in his arms” (Luke 2:28 King James Bible). Here, one can see that though the obvious denotation is that of taking another in one’s arms, there is an underlying connotation of immediate intimate closeness in taking someone in your arms. This becomes a pattern through much of this word’s usage. There are the obvious physical meanings but somehow implied in the word itself is a reaction which indicates closeness or indicates a lack of trust or intimacy.

In yet another religious reference, one can see the closeness being associated with being in another’s arms. In the 14th century poem An Orison of Our Lord, the poet writes, “hwine warpe ich me bitweone the ilk earmes swa swith wide to-spradde. / he openeth swa the moder hire earmes hire leoue child for to cluppen… / hwi nam ich in thin earmes. In thin earmes swa istrahte and isprad on rode” (Hannaford and Jobling). This translates (from Anglo-Saxon) to, “Oh, that I might cast myself between those same arms, so very wide outspread! He openeth them as doth the mother he arms to embrace her beloved child. O that I were in thy arms, in the arms so outstretched and outspread on the cross!” (Hannaford and Jobling) Here again we see arms in a form very similar to the one which it takes today. The spelling is not as modern but it follows from that same root and has both the same denonotation and connotation as it did almost 400 years before.

Obviously there are times when arm does not have this connotation of closeness (or for that matter denial of closeness). We can see this in Shakespeare’s Cymbeline when Iachimo is trying to convince Posthumus that he slept with Imogen. Iachimo is talking about Imogen’s bracelet that he took while she was sleeping and he says, “Sir, I thank her, that. / She stripped it from her arm; I see her yet” (Shakespeare). There is no underlying connotation in this sentence – just the arm as it is. This biological definition appears everywhere, because the language for bodyparts has changed so little over time. We’ve seen its use in both Anglo-Saxon, Middle English, and Early Modern English. An example of its use in modern English can be found in the staple biology book Henry Gray’s Anatomy of the Human Body in which he has a full section dedicated to the “The Muscles and Fasciæ of the Arm” (Gray). One cannot get more empirical than diagramming something and labeling its parts, and that is exactly what Gray did. It is obviously a part of our vocabulary today. One can see an obvious example in Frank Miller’s depiction of the battle at Thermopylae between Persians and Spartans in the movie 300. In the scene in which a Persian ambassador comes to talk to King Leonidas, his limb is cut off when trying to whip a Spartan for disrespecting him and King Xerxes. At the loss of his limb, in shock all he can scream is, “My ARM!” (Snyder)

Before moving on to its other uses, it is important to discuss the connotation I mentioned before. The arms have long carried a connotation of being able to welcome someone or deny someone an intimate place close to oneself. This is evident in the passage above which talks of being in the arms of Jesus as well as many passages yet to come. Significant others often talk of being in each other’s arms as if that is a place where they are close to one another and that is a privilege they alone possess. We can see a similar idea in the radio hit “Right Here in These Arms” by Finnish rock band HIM: “She'll be right here in my arms / So in Love / She'll be right here in these arms / She can't let go” (HIM). This connotation of closeness is obviously present in this song. This specific usage is somewhat restricted to romantic relationships, however there are many different phrases employed in this manner to describe both friendship and romantic relationships. “Arm-in-arm” is an example of a phrase which has both literal and figurative meaning (Oxford English Dictionary arm, n.1). This phrase itself traces its roots to at least the 14th century, around 1374, when it was used by Geoffrey Chaucer in Troilus and Cressida. “With that they wenten arm in arm y-fere / in-to the gardin from the chaumbre doun,” (Chaucer). On the one hand, it indicates that two people are walking and have linked their arms together, but on the other it seems to indicate that these people are not only in close proximity to one another, but also communing closely with one another. In other words, they are good friends and aren’t being forced to walk so close with one another.

On their 1999 album Human Clay, American rock band Creed had a song entitled “With Arms Wide Open.” This song, with its idiomatic title, is from singer Scott Stapp to his then-unborn son about being positive and essentially “grabbing the bull by the horns.” You can get this sense of welcoming what comes by looking at some of the final lyrics in the song. “…he can take this life / And hold it by the hand / And he can greet the world / With arms wide open...” (Creed). Obviously, this is not a reference to greeting the physical world itself with arms spread wide, but an expression of welcoming what comes one’s way. We see this type of greeting as prevalent in various cultures, from handshakes to hugs, because we make signs in real life which can only fit into language through metaphor and symbolism. This is because we try to ascribe familiar physical and linguistic characteristics to ideas and feelings. We can see it not only in greetings, but in the way people respond when they feel threatened. Idiomatically, we can see how this connotation is employed in linguistics when we look at phrases like “stay at arm’s length” when talking to someone about not getting too close to you or when we talk about the “long arm of the law” in speaking about how a police force maintains a presence in any given area. This connotation is not only extremely interesting, but also integral when trying to understand the history of such a commonplace word and the many different attributes which one ascribes to and specific functions and cultural signs that one reserves for even parts of his own body.

Before moving on to the more action-oriented denotations of “arm” we can look at it in terms of biology also as a verb. Essentially, there are several meanings which are somewhat rare or completely obsolete in their usages which indicate action done with one’s arm. Again, in Shakespeare’s Cymbeline, it is used when Lucius is talking to Imogen and he says, “Come, arm him” meaning essentially “take him in your arms” (Shakespeare). Another instance of it being used as a verb yet still referring to a physical movement of the arm is in Lancaster’s Præter where it says, “ The princess arm'd his neck” (OED arm, v.2) which means “to put one’s arm round” (OED arm, v.2). Lastly, it can mean to walk arm-in-arm as was mentioned earlier when talking of idioms. None of these uses are common in modern English, though some are not considered obsolete at this point.

Its second prominent meaning is more sinister and more violent. “Arma virumque cano” wrote the great Latin poet Vergil in the first line of the epic poem The Aeneid (Vergil). The translation of this is, “I sing of arms and of a man” (Mandelbaum) and Vergil was not singing of someone’s limbs, but of war. For that is what the books are about: war (the Trojan war) and the wanderings of Aeneas – the Trojan hero: a man. One can see how “arms” was derived from this Latin root “arma.” The structure is almost exactly the same aside from the neuter “-a” which ends the word. Similarly, the meaning of the word has not changed much over time aside from its encompassing the inevitable improvements in weapon technology which occurred over the next couple millennia. One can see this use spring into the history of English in the late 13th century and early-to-mid 14th century by Chaucer as well as many of his contemporaries. We can see the multiple ways in which it is used to reference weaponry – both generally and specifically. In Shakespeare’s Richard II, published around 1611, Scroop is talking to Richard and says, “Boys with women’s voices / Strive to speak big, and clap their female joints / In stiff unwieldy arms against thy crown” (Shakespeare, Richard II). In this passage, arms means defensive armour. Try to think of a suit of armor in the Arthurian sense. However, arm can also mean to take a defensive or offensive position against and enemy. This is simply to be at arms. This is one of the more general meanings ascribed to arms - battle. There are however, more specific items which “arm” may refer to.

Arms can be extended from a general fighting definition to a more specific meaning which is used to indicate specific types of weaponry. In a wartime situation, a soldier’s M4A1 assault rifle and USP45 handgun are each considered to be small arms (compared with artillery, mortars, etc) and together are called a stand of arms (OED arm, n.2). As military technology advanced and gunpowder became a staple of warfare, fire-arms became a common word which referred to guns in combat (OED arm, n.2). These weapons are wholly offensive in that they are meant to harm someone else rather than defensive armor like that found in Richard II. A controversial use of the word which is consistently seen in American life is concerning that which is mentioned in the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America which states that citizens have the “right to bear arms.” In this instance, it’s talking about citizens defending themselves from those threatening their well-being by taking up arms or using weapons – likely referencing guns. The “right to bear arms” is likely the most prevalent use of the word as gun control is a hot topic political issue.

Once again, as a word so commonplace as arms is prone to, there are many different forms which it will take as phrases used in everyday life. For instance, someone of, at, or in-arms is someone who fights as a soldier, warrior, or other type of person in a violent job. Another Shakespearian example can be found in Henry VI, Part 3 when Prince Edward is talking to Queen Margaret, the Duke of Somerset, and the Earl of Oxford and says, “Infuse his breast with magnanimity / And make him, naked, foil a man at arms” (Shakespeare, The Third Part of Henry the Sixth). Here one can see how during this period of time, a man at arms was essentially a man trained for war – someone who knew how to fight and the phrase retains that meaning to this day. This leads to another usage that is quite similar in nature. Arms can also mean the “profession of arms” or “service as a soldier” (OED arm, n.2). It can be seen first in Shakespeare’s Henry VI, Part 1, when Alencon says, “Of all exploits since first I followed arms / Ne’er heard I of a warlike enterprise / More venturous or desperate than this” (Shakespeare, The First Part of Henry the Sixth). And once more it can be seen in Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queen in Canto 4, “Young knight, what ever that does armes professe… beware of fraud, beware of ficklenesse” (Spenser). These two quotations both indicate that “arms” was not merely battle, or the weapons used in battle but also a skill that should be sought after by military professionals and warriors.

Arms is used with combinations of other words as a call to prepare for battle. In these different battle cries, arms takes on that meaning of generalized war, defense, or offense. In the mid-to-late 15th century Sir Thomas Malory’s Morte Darthur was a fascinating work as it contained many different fictitious stories about King Arthur. In one, Merlin is about to attack the camp of Arthur when a scout catches sight of the attackers and shouts, “Lords! At arms! For here be your enemies at your hand!” (Malory) One can see that “arms” or “armes” when preceded by a preposition often means to be ready to fight, fight, or be on guard. Even in the deuterocanonical book of 1st Macabees, we see the translation (dating to around 1611) as, “Ionathan commanded his men.. to be in armes” (OED arm, n.2) which implies that his men are to be ready to fight. Simply shouting “Arms!” is an equivalent of the modern day, “ATTACK!” as it used by Shakespeare’s sentinels in Henry VI, Part 1 who shout, “Arm! Arm! The enemy doth make assault!” (Shakespeare, The First Part of Henry the Sixth).

Another example of an idiom which is commonly used is to “put” or “lie down arms.” This can be used literally as a means of talking about surrendering in battle or it can be used figuratively. In his 1960 benchmark work on “evil and the question of God,” The Problem of Pain, C.S. Lewis writes, “We are not merely imperfect creatures who must be improved: we are, as Newman said, rebels who must lay down our arms” (Lewis). In this passage Lewis is talking about man’s rebellion against God and has used a war metaphor to indicate that instead of rebelling, man must surrender to God. In this sense, arms are not necessarily physical weapons – but emotions and intentions as well as human action. Once again, one sees how flexible the English language is in the hands of someone who knows how to wield it correctly.

Aside from the actual physical weaponry, defensive armours, and language based in war metaphors there some other ways in which arm can be used as a noun. Arm can be used to represent authority. This seems to be an interesting combination of the two primary noun types which have been talked about. Take the following verse for instance from the 1611 translation of the KJV (Ezekial 30:21), “Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and , low, it shall not be bound up to be healed, to put a roller to bind it, to make it strong to hold the sword” (King James Bible). There is definitely a metaphor which relies on the imagery of an actual physical arm, but at the same time, the arm is meant to represent power in war – that is how it holds onto the war metaphor of the second type of noun. The presence of the sword, or lack thereof, is meant to bring that idea of the arm securing national power to the forefront of the mind.

In its last verbal form, one can see arm as an extension of its second noun form. It still has to do with weaponry and battle but it has much more to do with getting ready for battle and picking up the aforementioned weapons. To arm oneself is to get ready for battle and secure one’s fire-arm. It can also be doing the same to another person – for example, in Genesis 14:14, when Abram’s brother Nahor is in trouble it says, “And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his own house” (King James Bible). This seems to indicate that he went to taken vengeance on the person who had taken Nahor and had prepared his servants to help in the battle to free his brother. Another example of arm as a verb meaning to prepare for battle is in Shakespeare’s Macbeth when Macduff and Macbeth’s other opponents are marching on Macbeth’s home at Dunsinane and Macbeth is telling all the people in his castle to prepare to battle and says, “and now a wood / Comes toward Dunsinane. Arm, arm, and out!” (Shakespeare). Macbeth is giving an imperative command to get ready for battle.

Lastly, the only completely obsolete form of arm is its adjectival form. In the Anglo-Saxon Bible, which was completed around 1000 AD, there is an example in Mark 12:42 which reads, “ a com án earm wuduwe” (OED arm, a.) which translates to, “And there came a certain poor widow” (King James Bible). Here “earm” means poor. There are also times in 12th and 13th centuries when it or a similar form was translated as “miserable or wretched” (OED arm, a.). These forms have been completely obsolete since this time and have shown no sign of resurgence at all.

For longevity’s sake, all of the different individual meanings of arm have not been covered, though many more exist. The word has been around for quite a long time in English and has seen little significant change other than a dropped vowel or two. Furthermore, it bears a strong resemblance to Latin, Greek, and even Sanskrit forms to which its etymology is related. As a word which has been around for so long, arm has become a significant part of the phrasology which is distinct to our culture. However, I believe the most interesting thing about “arm” is the fact that it has two different strong forms which both seem to be interconnected with one another in multiple ways. This takes place in both nominal and verbal forms. This gives arm a lot of room to be bent to fit whatever mold it needs to. As it were, arm probably is not going anywhere, but if it does the change will be welcomed with open…
 
Works Cited

300. Dir. Zack Snyder. 2006.

Chaucer, Geoffrey. Troilus and Cressida. eBookMall, n.d.

Creed. "With Arms Wide Open." Human Clay. 1999.

Gray, Henry. IV. Myology. 7d. The Muscles and Fasci; of the Arm. Gray, Henry. 1918. Anatomy of the Human Body. 1918. 14 April 2010 .

Hannaford, Robert and J'annine Jobling. Theology and the Body: Gender, Text and Ideology. Gloucester: Short Run Press Ltd., 1999.

HIM. "Right Here in My Arms." Razorblade Romance. 2000.

"King James Bible." Tuscaloosa, AL: Inspirational Gift Company, 2003. 303,253.

Lewis, C.S. The Problem of Pain. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2001.

Malory, Sir Thomas. Morte Darthur. London: Macmillan and Co., 1868.

Mandelbaum, Allen. The Aeneid of Vergil. Bantam, 1971.

OED arm, a. 15 April 2010 .

OED arm, n.2. 1989. 15 April 2010 .

OED arm, v.2. 1989. 15 April 2010 .

Oxford English Dictionary arm, n.1. 1989. 14 April 2010 .

Shakespeare. Macbeth. New York: Dover Publishers, 1993.

Shakespeare, William. "Cymbeline." Orgel, Stephen and A.R. Braunmuller. The Complete Pelican Shakespeare. New York: Penguin Books, 2002. 661.

—. Richard II. New York: Penguin Books, 2002.

—. The First Part of Henry the Sixth. New York: Penguin Books, 2002.

—. The Third Part of Henry the Sixth. New York: Penguin Books, 2002.

Spenser, Edmund. The Longman Anthology of British Literature: The Faerie Queen. Ed. David Damrosch. Vol. A. New York: Pearson-Longman, 2004.

Vergil. Vergil's Aeneid: Selections from Books 1, 2, 4, 6, 10, & 12. Ed. Laurie Haight Keenan. Wauconda: Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, Inc., 2001.