Etymologically
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Corsus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈkɔr.sʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈkɔr.sus][1]

Forms

Corsus (feminine Corsa, neuter Corsum); first/second-declension adjective[1] As a noun: Corsus m (genitive Corsī, feminine Corsa); second declension.[1] The record of triumphs has the old ablative plural Corseis, and an inscription has the spelling Cursī.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin Corsica,[1][4] and Lewis and Short and Georges list it among the adjectives formed from the island's name.[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Capitoline record of triumphs already has the old plural form in de Corseis, “over the Corsicans”, for the triumph of Gaius Papirius Maso, the first to triumph on the Alban Mount.[2] In literature the plural Corsī, the Corsicans, is first found in Livy, who tells of fighting with them on Corsica.[3][2][4]

Semantic evolution

As an adjective it meant “Corsican”: Ovid has a fleet sunk in Corsican waters, and Martial speaks of Corsican jars.[3][7] As a noun the plural named the inhabitants of the island,[3][5] and Pliny the Elder also uses it for a people living in northern Sardinia that had come from Corsica.[5][2] Inscriptions of the imperial period name cohorts of Corsi in the Roman army, sometimes spelled Cursi.[2][3]

The word survives in Italian corso, French corse and Corsican corsu.[1]

Timeline

  • 59 BC–AD 17 – Livy tells of Roman battles with the Corsicans.[3][2][4]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses the adjective of the sea around Corsica.[3][4]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder names Corsicans settled in Sardinia.[5][4]
  • 40–102/103 AD – Martial mentions Corsican jars.[3][4]
  • 2nd century AD – Valerius Maximus tells how the senate handed over Marcus Claudius to the Corsicans for making a shameful peace with them.[2][4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of or from Corsica, Corsican.[3][5]

Noun

  1. A Corsican; in the plural, the inhabitants of Corsica.[3][5][8]
  2. (plural) A people of northern Sardinia that had come from Corsica.[5]
  • Corsicus
  • Corsicānus
  • English Corsican

Usage notes

The lower-case corsus of the OLD is a different word, a form of quorsum.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  8. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier