Etymologically
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arcticus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈark.tɪ.kʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈark.ti.kus][1]

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]
  • 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