Etymologically
Log in

canthus

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 23 October 2026 at 15:03. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈkan.tʰʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈkan.tus][1]

Forms

canthus m (genitive canthī); second declension[1] Also spelled cantus; the manuscripts write ⟨cant-⟩ and ⟨canth-⟩ indiscriminately.[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Gaulish: the OLD labels it Gallic,[2] and Wiktionary traces it to Proto-Celtic *kantos (“corner, rim”),[1] with the cognates Breton kant (“circle”), Middle Irish cétad (“round seat”) and Welsh cant (“rim, edge”).[1] Köbler starts from Gaulish *cantos (“iron tyre, rim”), comparing Proto-Indo-European *kanto- (“corner, bend”).[4] Quintilian already counted it among foreign words, of African or Spanish origin.[5][3]

Lewis & Short and the TLL instead equate it with Ancient Greek κανθός (kanthós),[5][3] the Greek word for the corner of the eye;[1] Wiktionary takes that word as a separate borrowing which merged with the Gaulish one and gave the frequent spelling with ⟨th⟩.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first author is Persius,[4] who uses it by metonymy for a whole wheel.[5][6]

Semantic evolution

Its proper sense is the iron tyre round a carriage wheel: Quintilian discusses it under that meaning as a foreign word,[5][3][6] and the Vulgate uses it in the books of Kings.[6] Martial, like Persius, has it for the rim or the wheel itself.[7]

The Romance descendants Italian canto, French chant and Spanish canto mean “corner, edge”.[3][1]

Timeline

  • 34–62 AD – Persius uses it for a wheel.[5][4]
  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian names it as a foreign word for the tyre.[5][3][4]
  • 40–102/103 AD – Martial uses it of a wheel rim.[7][4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The iron tyre of a wheel.[2][5][6]
  2. (by metonymy) A wheel.[5][6][7]

Usage notes

A separate canthus, the Greek word for the corner of the eye, is found only in Marcellus Empiricus, who says that the Greeks call the corners of the eyes so, and in a glossary;[3][6] the TLL gives it an article of its own.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier