Etymologically
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arcanus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [arˈkaː.nʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [arˈkaː.nus][1]

Forms

arcānus (feminine arcāna, neuter arcānum); first/second-declension adjective[1] Inscriptions also spell it arkani.[2]

Etymology

It is formed from arca (“chest, box”) with the suffix -nus.[2][3][4] De Vaan derives ⟨arca⟩ from the root of arceō (“to contain, keep out”), Proto-Indo-European *h2(o)r(ḱ)- (“to hold”), cognate with Hittite har(k)- (“to hold”) and Ancient Greek ἀρκέω (arkéō, “to ward off”).[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Plautus,[6] whose Trinummus has “I tell you this as a trusted friend, so that he doesn't find out from you”.[2][7] De Vaan dates the adjective from Horace.[4]

Semantic evolution

Its main sense is “secret, kept from public knowledge”, as Ovid's secret letter, of the inmost heart and thoughts (Persius), of private conversations, and of the hidden future and prophecies, as Virgil's secret fates.[2] It also means hidden from view, and of rites “secret, mysterious”, as Horace's secret rites by night.[2][1] Of persons it is “trustworthy, keeping a secret”, so that the noun is a confidant; poets call night arcana, “keeping secrets”.[2][7] The neuter arcānum is a secret.[7]

Church Latin glosses it “secret, hidden”.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a trusted friend.[2][6]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace of secret rites.[2][4][6]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of secret fates.[2][6]
  • 1540s – Borrowed into English as arcane.[5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Secret, private; inmost; confidential.[2][7][1][8]
  2. Hidden from view.[2][8]
  3. Of rites, secret, mysterious.[2][1]
  4. Keeping secrets, trustworthy; as a noun, a confidant.[2][7][1]

Word family

  • arcānum

Usage notes

A separate adjective Arcānus means “of Arcae”, a town in Latium; the neuter Arcānum is the name of a villa of Quintus Cicero there.[2][7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson