cos

Forms

cōs f (genitive cōtis); third declension^[1] Lucan has the ablative plural cautibus.^[2] A Late Latin nominative cōtis is found in Venantius Fortunatus, Cassiodorus and Isidore.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *kōt- (“whetstone”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *ḱe/oh₃-t- (“sharpening”).^[4] De Vaan takes it as a t-stem “the sharpening one”, of the same type as sacerdōs, and sees the singular i-stem as secondary; he finds plausible the suggestion that cōtēs “rocks, crags” was its old plural.^[4] The same root, “to sharpen”, is in catus (“shrewd”).^[4][2]

Cognate with Avestan saēni- (“pointed”) and Old English hān (“whetstone”), formed with other suffixes.^[4]

Isidore of Seville explained the name from its sharpening iron for cutting.^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Cicero,^[4][7] who, like Livy, tells of a whetstone cut through with a razor (novacula cotem discindere).^[3][8]

Semantic evolution

Besides the whetstone, it was used of any hard stone or flint,^[8] and in the plural of rocks and crags.^[9] Cicero and Horace use it figuratively: anger was said to be the whetstone of courage (iracundiam fortitudinis quasi cotem esse).^[8][9]

In Medieval Latin it also meant a touchstone for testing metal.^[10] In 14th-century London a whetstone hung round the neck was the mark of a liar in the pillory.^[10] It survives in Italian cote.^[9]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it for a whetstone, and figuratively.^[4][8][7]
• 65–8 BC – Horace speaks of arrows sharpened on a whetstone.^[3][7]
• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville explains its name.^[5][7]
• 1371 – A London ordinance has a whetstone hung round a liar's neck.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A whetstone, hone.^[2][8]
2. Any hard stone, flint;^[8][9] (plural) rocks, crags.^[8][9]
3. (figurative) Something that sharpens or stimulates.^[2][8]
4. (Medieval Latin) A touchstone.^[10]

Related words

• catus
• cautēs

Usage notes

Cos. is also the usual abbreviation of consul (plural coss.).^[11][9][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b c d e f 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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c d e f Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b c d 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
11. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.