caucus

Forms

caucus m (genitive caucī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is probably borrowed from Ancient Greek καῦκα (kaûka, “bowl”).^[2][3][4] Gaffiot gives the Greek form as καύκη (kaúkē),^[5] and Wiktionary as καῦκος (kaûkos, “cup”), which it traces further to Proto-Celtic *kaɸukos (“cup”) and Proto-Indo-European *kap- (“to seize, hold”).^[1] Köbler, following Walde and Hofmann, calls the etymology uncertain.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in the Historia Augusta,^[4][6] meaning a drinking cup: the life of Pescennius Niger mentions a silver one.^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

Jerome speaks of a wooden cup,^[3][2] and Marcellus Empiricus uses the word too.^[3] In Medieval Latin it remained a cup or goblet,^[7][8][9] and also named the bowl of a hanging lamp.^[8][9] Ecclesiastical Latin used it for a cruet.^[10] Wiktionary lists Old English ċēac and Romanian cauc among its descendants.^[1]

Timeline

• 4th/5th century AD – The Historia Augusta mentions a silver cup.^[3][6][4]
• c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome speaks of a wooden cup.^[3][2][4]
• 1st third of the 8th century – Bede tells of bronze cups (aereos caucos) hung up to refresh travellers.^[9][8][4]
• c. 750 – A letter in Boniface's correspondence mentions a silver cup gilded inside.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Late Latin) A drinking cup, a goblet.^[2][3][7]
2. (Medieval Latin) The bowl of a hanging lamp.^[8][9]
3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A cruet.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b c d Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
9. ^ a b c d e 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
10. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson