- vertebra
- vertebra: [17] A vertebra is etymologically a bony pivot, a bone on which other bones ‘turn’. The word’s Latin source, vertebra, was derived from the verb vertere ‘turn’ (source also of English verse, version, etc).
=> verse - vertebra (n.)
- "bone of the spine," early 15c., from Latin vertebra "joint or articulation of the body, joint of the spine" (plural vertebræ), perhaps from vertere "to turn" (see versus) + instrumental suffix -bra. The notion would be the spine as the "hinge" of the body.