caninus

Forms

canīnus (feminine canīna, neuter canīnum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin canis (“dog”) + -īnus.^[2][3][1] De Vaan explains canis as an old consonant stem, older nominative ⟨canēs⟩, going back to Proto-Italic *kō and Proto-Indo-European *ḱuōn (“dog”).^[4] Cognate with Sanskrit श्वा (śvā́), Ancient Greek κύων (kúōn), Old Irish cú and Lithuanian šuõ, all meaning “dog”.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus on.^[4][3] In the Casina a character hopes that a scaeva canina, an omen from a dog, will turn out better.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

It means belonging to a dog or fit for a dog, as dog's milk in Ovid and Juvenal's coarse bread for dogs;^[2][5] Varro calls a meal without wine a dog's lunch.^[2][5] From this it is dog-like: Lucilius speaks of the dog-like sound of R, Sallust quotes Appius on a snarling, abusive eloquence, and Persius calls R the dog's letter for its snarl.^[2][5] Quintilian and Lactantius also speak of a snarling eloquence.^[5] Dēns canīnus is a canine tooth, in Varro, Celsus, Columella and Pliny the Elder,^[2][5] and the adjective names wild kinds of plants, such as a nettle and a rose.^[2] Jerome uses it of beastly marriages, and Augustine calls the Cynics caninī philosophī.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, of an omen from a dog.^[2][6]
• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius, of a dog-like sound.^[2][6]
• 1st century AD – Columella, of canine teeth.^[2][6]
• late 14th century – English canine, first of a pointed tooth.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or belonging to a dog, fit for a dog, canine.^[2][5][1]
2. Like a dog's; of speech, snarling, abusive.^[2][5]
3. dēns canīnus: a canine tooth.^[2][5]
4. Of plants: of a wild kind.^[2]
5. canīna littera: the letter R.^[2][5]

Word family

• canīna

Related words

• canis
• canīcula
• English canine

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