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concavus

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word concavus

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
204–169 BC, Ennius
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*ḱouH-ó-)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin cavus
French cave
Latin cavo
Latin concavus

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈkɔŋ.ka.wʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈkɔŋ.ka.vus][1]

Forms

concavus (feminine concava, neuter concavum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin con- + cavus (“hollow”).[2][1][3] Etymonline takes the prefix as perhaps intensive.[4] De Vaan traces cavus to Proto-Italic *kawo- and Proto-Indo-European *ḱouH-ó- (“hollow”), with cognates such as Old Irish cúa (“hollow”) and Ancient Greek κοῖλος (koîlos, “hollow”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL reads it from Ennius and Cato on, always of physical things;[3] Cato tells the farmer to make a seed-bed flat but slightly hollowed.[2]

Semantic evolution

It means curving inwards, hollow, concave: Lucretius has hollow cymbals and hollows of the earth, Cicero the hollow depths of caves and hollow throats, Virgil hollow rocks and Ovid a hollow valley and the curved claws of the Crab.[6] Of the eyes it is sunken.[2] Seneca contrasts the hollowed hand with the flat one, and Pliny the Elder uses it of teeth and leaves.[6] It also means having a cavity inside, hollow.[2] Ovid uses it of swelling water, a curved stern and bellying sails.[6] The TLL notes it has no comparative or superlative.[3] Later the neuter plural concava is a noun, hollows, as in Claudian and Lactantius.[6] Stelten gives "hollow, arched, concave, vaulted, curved" for Church Latin, and the plural "hollows, a glen".[7] The English concave came from it, perhaps through Old French.[4]

Timeline

  • 204–169 BC – Ennius, its first use.[3]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato of a slightly hollowed bed.[2][3]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius of hollow cymbals.[6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of the hollows of caves.[6][8]
  • early 15th century – concave appears in English.[4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Curving inwards, concave, hollow;[2][6][1] (of the eyes) sunken.[2][6][1]
  2. Having a cavity inside, hollow.[2]
  3. Arched, vaulted, curved;[6][7][1] (of water) swelling.[6][7][1]

Noun

  1. (Late Latin, neuter plural) Hollows; a glen.[6][7]

Word family

  • concavitās
  • concavō

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Concavus.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/concavus. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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