Etymologically
Log in

cruor

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 19:44. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈkru.ɔr][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈkruː.or][1]

Forms

cruor m (genitive cruōris); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *kruwōs (“blood”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *kruh₂-ōs (“blood”).[2] The PIE s-stem *kreuH-s found in Indo-Iranian and Greek supports this reconstruction.[2]

Cognate with Old Irish crú (“blood”), Sanskrit क्रविस् (kravís, “raw meat”), Ancient Greek κρέας (kréas, “meat”), Lithuanian kraũjas (“blood”), Russian кровь (krovʹ, “blood”) and Old English hrēaw (“raw”).[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan finds it first in Accius, who writes of someone washing the blood away with salt tears.[2][3] Köbler cites the Rhetorica ad Herennium (86/82 BC).[4]

Semantic evolution

It meant blood that flows or has clotted from a wound, in contrast with sanguis, the blood circulating in the body.[3][5][6] Tacitus' description of kings who let blood from their arms and lick it shows the two words side by side.[6]

From this it meant bloodshed and slaughter, as Cicero's “the bloodshed of Cinna”, and later blood in general, as in Lucretius.[3] Gaffiot notes a figurative sense “life force” in Lucan.[7] It was borrowed by English as cruor, clotted blood.[1]

Timeline

  • 170–c. 90 BC – Accius uses it.[2][3][4]
  • 86/82 BC – The Rhetorica ad Herennium uses it.[4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it for bloodshed.[3][4]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of blood in general.[3][4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Blood flowing from a wound; gore.[3][1]
  2. Bloodshed, slaughter.[3][1]
  3. Blood in general.[3]

Word family

  • cruentus
  • cruentātiō
  • cruentē
  • cruenter
  • cruentō
  • crūdus
  • English raw

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes cruor, the blood that gushes from the body, from sanguis, the blood flowing in it and keeping it alive.[6] Lewis and Short make the same distinction.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  7. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.