Etymology

dura mater

Today it means: The tough and inflexible outermost of the three layers of the meninges, enveloping the brain and spinal cord. Full definition →

Medieval Latin dūra māter ← Arabic أُمّ الدِّمَاغ الصَفِيقَة
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The story

  1. Arabic · calque ofأُمّ الدِّمَاغ الصَفِيقَة
  2. Medieval Latin · borrowed fromdūra māter
  3. English todaydura mater

First attested c. 1400, borrowing from Medieval Latin dūra māter (literally “firm, strict mother”), ellipsis of dūra māter cerebrī (literally “hard mother of the brain”), calque of Arabic أُمّ الدِّمَاغ الصَفِيقَة (ʔumm al-ddimāḡ aṣ-ṣafīqa, literally “thick mother of the brain”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.