Armillum
Armillum a sort of wine-jug (urceolus, Varro, ap. Non. s. v. p. 547). Festus mentions it as used in sacrifices, and derives it from armus, as carried on the shoulder (Paul. Diac. p. 2, Müller). The word must, however, have been a familiar one, as it gave rise to a proverb, anus ad armillum, or ad armillum redire, revertere, to return to one's old tricks (Lucil. ap. Non. p. 74, 13; Apul. Met. ix. p. 197; in vi. p. 123, armile is variously explained by armillum and armarium).
The three last words, armilausa, armilla, and armillum, all illustrate the use, rare in classical Latin, but no doubt common enough at an earlier period, of armus for the human shoulder (humerus). This sense of the word is well discussed by Conington on Verg. A. 4.11, 11.641.
From William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities. Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Tufts University. Data accessed from https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-pdlrefwk/ on 17 October 2026.