arcticus

Forms

arcticus (feminine arctica, neuter arcticum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ἀρκτικός (arktikós, “northern, of the Bear”),^[1][2][3][4] from ἄρκτος (árktos, “bear; the constellation of the Bear”).^[1][3][5] Köbler connects ⟨ἄρκτος⟩, with a query, with Proto-Indo-European *h₂r̥k̑sos (“bear”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first author is Hyginus, who explains that the arctic circle is so called because the figures of the Bears are seen inside it.^[4][3][5]

Semantic evolution

It stayed a word of astronomy: Ampelius names the circulus arcticus beside the antarctic one, and Martianus Capella speaks of the arctic pole and summit of the sky.^[4] The manuscripts waver between Greek and Latin endings (arcticos).^[4][2] A Latin synonym was septentriōnālis.^[4]

Medieval Latin also wrote it articus;^[6] English arctic, first recorded in the late 14th century, comes from Old French artique and directly from that medieval form.^[6]

Timeline

• 2nd half of the 1st century BC – Hyginus explains the name of the arctic circle.^[4][3][5]
• 5th century AD – Martianus Capella uses it of the northern pole of the sky.^[4][5]
• late 14th century – English arctic is taken from its medieval form.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Arctic, northern; of the region of the Bear: circulus arcticus, the arctic circle.^[2][3][4]

Related words

• antarcticus
• septentriōnālis
• English arctic

Usage notes

The OLD enters a second arcticus (also arcticos), a grammarians' term for “initial”, said of a sound that begins a syllable.^[2] The TLL derives it from ἄρχω (árkhō, “to begin”) and cites Terentianus Maurus and Diomedes.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com