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cicuta

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word cicuta

Confidence
Unknown
First attested
234–149 BC, Cato

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [kɪˈkuː.ta][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [t͡ʃiˈkuː.ta][1]

Forms

cicūta f (genitive cicūtae); first declension[1]

Etymology

Its origin is unknown.[2][3] Wiktionary suggests a substrate word shared with English kex, Cornish kegis and Welsh cegid (“hemlock”).[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cato,[3] who tells the farmer to pull dwarf elder and hemlock out of the cornfield.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is hemlock, probably Cicuta virosa or Conium maculatum, described by Pliny the Elder.[4][2] Its juice was a poison given to criminals, as in Cicero and Lucretius, and Persius calls Socrates the master taken off by a dreadful draught of it.[2][4] Horace also mentions it as a purge for bile.[2] The hollow stalk made a shepherd's pipe: Lucretius says the zephyrs first taught country people to blow into hollow stems.[2][1] Church Latin glosses it hemlock.[5]

Timeline

  • 234–149 BC – Cato of hemlock in the cornfield.[2][3]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius of hemlock as poison and of hemlock pipes.[2][4][3]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace of hemlock as a purge.[2][3]
  • 34–62 AD – Persius of Socrates' draught of hemlock.[4][3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Hemlock (the plant).[2][4][1][5]
  2. Hemlock juice, as a poison or as a purge.[2][4][1]
  3. A pipe made from a hemlock stalk.[2][1]

Word family

  • cicūticen

Usage notes

Cicūta is also the name of a moneylender in Horace's Satires.[4][6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  6. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
Cite this entry

“Cicuta.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/cicuta. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·