Dacus

Forms

Dācus m (genitive Dācī, feminine Dāca); second declension^[1]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.^[2] Wiktionary takes it as formed from Latin Dācia + -us, from the name of the country.^[1] Georges instead treats ⟨Dācia⟩ as formed from the people's name, the plural ⟨Dācī⟩.^[3] Köbler calls the name of unclear origin, perhaps Thracian.^[2]

Ancient writers explained it differently: Isidore of Seville held that the Dacians were offspring of the Goths and that their name stood for ⟨Dagi⟩, because they came of Gothic stock.^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Caesar uses the plural Dācī for the Dacians, a warlike people related to the Getae,^[3][6][2] and Virgil has the singular Dācus as a collective for the people.^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin the word is both a noun, usually in the plural, for an inhabitant of Dācia, and an adjective, “Dacian”.^[7][8] The singular is often collective in the poets,^[3] and a feminine Dāca is found in Venantius Fortunatus and in an inscription.^[3]

In medieval Britain the name was transferred to the Danes: Domesday Book names men called Dacus, and chroniclers use the plural for the Danish invaders.^[9][2] From this came an adjective “Danish” and, used as a noun, a name for the Danish axe or pole-axe.^[9][2] A medieval Hungarian source has dacus for a kind of short sword.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 50 BC – Caesar names the Dacians, in the plural Dācī.^[3][2]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses the singular Dācus for the people in the Georgics.^[3][6][2]
• c. 45–96 AD – Statius uses it as an adjective, “Dacian”.^[6][2]
• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville connects the Dacians with the Goths.^[4][2]
• 1086 – Domesday Book uses it for a Dane.^[9][2]
• 1461 – A medieval text uses it as an adjective, “Danish”.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A Dacian, an inhabitant of Dacia; usually in the plural, the Dacians.^[7][3][8]
2. (Medieval Latin) A Dane.^[9][2]
3. (Medieval Latin) A Danish axe, a pole-axe.^[9]
4. (Medieval Latin) A short sword.^[10]

Adjective

1. Dacian, of Dacia or the Dacians.^[7][6][11]
2. (Medieval Latin) Danish.^[9][2]

Related words

• Dācia

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
6. ^ a b c d e Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c d e f Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Bartal, Antal, et al. (1987–), Lexicon Latinitatis Medii Aevi Hungariae, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online ed. ELTE
11. ^ VoLat: Vocabolario della Lingua Latina (2018), Milan: Hoepli