Etymograph

English

fibula

Fibula comes from Latin fībula ‘buckle, clasp, pin’, from fīvō ‘to fix, fasten, thrust in’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰéygʷeti.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰéygʷeti1reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*feigʷō1‘to fasten’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfīvō2‘to fix, fasten, thrust in’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfībula3‘buckle, clasp, pin’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1949fibula3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin fivo
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin fibula
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English fibula
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1949, N. P. Toll, Fibulae: “Most of the fibulae have a triangular molding above…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰéygʷetiWiktionary, Latin fivoreconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*feigʷōWiktionary, Latin fivo‘to fasten’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfīvōWiktionary, Latin fibula‘to fix, fasten, thrust in’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfībulaWiktionary, English fibula‘buckle, clasp, pin’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1949fibulaWiktionary, English fibula. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1949, N. P. Toll, Fibulae: “Most of the fibulae have a triangular molding above…”

The story

The bone is so named because the shape it makes with the tibia resembles a clasp, the fibula being the pin.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Latin fīvō ‘to fix, fasten, thrust in’

crucify, 9 more

Today it means

noun An ancient kind of brooch used to hold clothing together, similar in function to the modern safety pin.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “fibula”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin fivo, Latin fibula. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *dʰéygʷeti / fibula

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