Etymologically
Log in

broccus

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 23 October 2026 at 14:38. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈbrɔk.kʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈbrɔk.kus][1]

Forms

broccus (feminine brocca, neuter broccum); first/second-declension adjective[1] The OLD and the TLL head it brocchus;[2][3] the manuscripts also have brochus, broncus and bronchus.[4][5][2]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.[3] The OLD calls it probably Celtic,[2] and Wiktionary suggests that it is borrowed from Gaulish *brokkos, from Proto-Celtic *brokkos (“badger”).[1]

It survives in Italian brocco and French broche.[3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has it in a fragment of the Sitellitergus quoted by Festus, in a list of defects: aut vārum aut valgum aut compernem aut paetum aut brocchum fīlium, “a son bow-legged or knock-kneed or with knees knocking or squinting or buck-toothed”.[3][4]

Semantic evolution

Lucilius has broccus of a person with a prominent tooth,[3][2] and Varro uses it of horses' and dogs' teeth that stick out.[3][4] Nonius explains brocci as people with a jutting mouth and prominent teeth, and the glossaries as people with a swollen upper lip.[3][6] Pliny the Elder says that the cognomen Brocchus came from the lips, like Labeō;[2][4] it was a surname of the Furii and Annaei.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a buck-toothed son.[3][7]
  • c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius has the spelling broccus.[2][7]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of horses' and dogs' teeth.[3][7]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder explains the cognomen Brocchus.[2][7]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. (of teeth) projecting, prominent.[2][4][5]
  2. (of persons and animals) Having projecting teeth, buck-toothed; having a jutting mouth or thick upper lip.[2][4][6]

Usage notes

In medieval British sources broccus is also a badger, from Old English broc, in a record of 1279;[8][7] Köbler also lists a broccus “saddlebag, pannier” of 1252, of unknown origin.[7]

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 d e f g h i Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  5. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  6. ^ a b du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
  7. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  8. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press