cuneo

Forms

cuneō (present infinitive cuneāre, perfect active cuneāvī, supine cuneātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin cuneus (“wedge”) + -ō.^[2][3][4] The origin of the noun cuneus is uncertain.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is not found before the 1st century AD:^[6] Pomponius Mela uses it reflexively of Britain, which narrows into a wedge,^[2][7] and Seneca of a keystone that wedges the sloping sides of an arch together.^[2][8]

Semantic evolution

The verb meant to fasten or secure with wedges, as Pliny the Elder says of anything to be wedged in wood,^[6][8] and to force something in like a wedge: Quintilian uses it of matter forced into a speech.^[2][8] In the reflexive and the passive it meant to take the shape of a wedge, to taper.^[2][7]

In medieval Latin it was a military term, to draw troops up in a wedge formation.^[9] The Romance verbs Italian coniare and Spanish cuñar and French cogner continue it.^[1]

Timeline

• 43/44 AD – Pomponius Mela says Britain narrows like a wedge.^[2][10]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of a keystone wedging an arch.^[2][10]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of wedging wood.^[6][10]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it figuratively of forcing material into a speech.^[2][10]

Meanings

Verb

1. To secure by wedging, to wedge in.^[2][6]
2. (figurative) To force in like a wedge.^[2][7]
3. (reflexive and passive) To form a wedge, to taper.^[2][7]
4. (Medieval Latin, military) To draw up in wedge formation.^[9]

Word family

• cuneātim
• cuneātiō
• discuneātus
• excuneō
• subcuneō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
9. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
10. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de