anus

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈa.nʊs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈaː.nus]^[1]

Forms

anus f (genitive anūs); fourth declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *anu- (“old woman”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₂enH-o- (“old woman”), perhaps a nursery word.^[2] Cognate with Hittite 𒄩𒀭𒈾 (ḫanna-, “grandmother”), Old Armenian հան (han, “grandmother”), Lithuanian anyta (“mother-in-law”) and Old High German ana (“grandmother”).^[2][3] Why it became a u-stem is unclear; de Vaan suggests the influence of nurus “daughter-in-law”.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Ennius, whose Annales have an old woman bringing a light on trembling limbs; de Vaan dates it from Plautus.^[4][3][2] Köbler dates Ennius 204–169 BC.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It meant an old woman, the counterpart of senex “old man”, and Döderlein notes that it was used both with respect and as a reproach for weakness, credulity or talkativeness.^[3][5] Horace uses it of a sorceress, and it was also used as a feminine adjective, “old, aged”, of women, animals and things, as Plautus' rich old wife.^[3][6]

The diminutive anicula “little old woman” and the adjective anīlis “of an old woman” belong to it, and the Appendix Probi insists on anus, not a diminutive anucla.^[7][3]

Timeline

• 204–169 BC – Ennius has an old woman bring a light.^[3][4]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it as an adjective, “old”.^[3][4]
• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of a witch.^[6][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. An old woman; a crone, witch.^[3][6]

Adjective

1. (feminine) Old, aged.^[3]

Word family

• ānellus
• ānulus
• anas
• anicula
• anīlis
• ānālis
• ānulāris
• ānulārius

Related words

• mamma
• nonnus
• senex
• English anile

Usage notes

Ānus, ānī (long ā), masculine, is a different word: “ring, link”, then “anus”, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eh₂no- (“ring”), and Cicero discusses it as an indecent word, and it gave English anus in the 1650s.^[2][3][8] Döderlein contrasts anus, an old lady, with vetula, an old woman as decrepit.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
6. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ Appendix Probi, a late antique list of correct and censured Latin word forms ("calida non calda"); ed. H. Keil, Grammatici Latini IV, Leipzig 1864, 197–199.
8. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com