aduncus

Forms

aduncus (feminine adunca, neuter aduncum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ad- + uncus (“hooked”).^[2][1] De Vaan traces uncus to Proto-Italic *onko- and Proto-Indo-European *h₂onḱ-o- (“hook”), comparing Sanskrit अङ्क (aṅká-, “hook, clamp”) and Ancient Greek ὄγκος (ónkos, “barb of an arrow”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Ennius,^[3][4] whose Annals have hooked mooring stakes.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It means hooked or curved, of parts of the body, especially a nose, beak or horns, and of implements.^[2] Terence has a hooked nose, the opposite of reduncus, and the Rhetorica ad Herennium hooked teeth.^[2][5] Cicero writes of a saw hooked and toothed all over and of atoms curved and as if hooked.^[2][5] Döderlein says uncus means a strong curve, nearly a semicircle, like a hook.^[6]

Timeline

• 204–169 BC – Ennius of hooked stakes.^[2][3][4]
• 190–159 BC – Terence of a hooked nose.^[2][5][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of a hooked saw.^[2][4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Hooked, curved, bent; of a nose, aquiline.^[2][5][1]

Word family

• aduncitās

Related words

• uncus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper