Elbow taken as six handbreadths; three to the elbow and three from the elbow to the shoulder. Another measure was the "cubit" (from "cubital"). This was taken to be the length of a man's arm from the elbow to the end of the middle finger. Though the elbow is similarly adapted for stability through a wide range of pronation-supination and flexion-extension in all apes, there are some minor differences. In arboreal apes such as orangutans, the large forearm muscles originating on the epicondyles of the humerus generate significant transverse forces on the elbow joint. The structure to resist these forces is
The finger is once again explained in the "Suda", where it is said to mean "to touch the anus with a finger". Diogenes Laërtius records how the Cynic philosopher Diogenes of Sinope directed the gesture at the orator Demosthenes in 4th-century BC Athens. In the "Discourses of Epictetus", Diogenes's target is instead one of the sophists. In Latin, the middle finger was the "digitus impudicus", meaning the "shameless, indecent or offensive finger". In the 1st century AD, Persius had superstitious female relatives concoct a charm with the "infamous finger" ("digitus infamis") and "purifying spit"; while in the "Satyricon", an old woman uses