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curvus

Etymology and origin of the Latin word curvus

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Confidence
Uncertain
First attested
Plautus

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈkʊr.wʊs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈkur.vus][1]

Forms

curvus (feminine curva, neuter curvum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.[2] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *ku/orwo- and finds the best comparison in Old Irish corr (“round, curved”) and Ancient Greek κυρτός (kurtós, “curved”).[2][3] Walde and Pokorny derived it from a root *(s)ker- “to turn, bend”, but de Vaan objects that the words grouped there differ widely and that no such verbal root is attested.[2] Wiktionary follows the traditional derivation from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kr̥-wós.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus,[2][4] who has a woman threatening to make a man bent with carrying water.[3] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[4]

Semantic evolution

It meant curved, bent or crooked, as of horns, a ploughshare or a curved shore, and as a noun a curve.[3][5] It also meant winding, as of rivers, stooping or bowed with age, and figuratively wrong, as in Persius' crooked morals; the proverb curvum corrigere meant to set right what is wrong.[3]

Döderlein treats curvus as the general word for any crookedness, as opposed to uncus, a strong hooked curve.[6] The verb curvō “to bend” gave English curve, and Old French courbe gave English curb.[7] It survives in French courbe and Italian curvo.[1]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a man bent with carrying water.[3][4]
  • c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius speaks of curved horns.[3][4]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil speaks of a bent ploughman and winding rivers.[3][4]
  • early 15th century – English curve is recorded.[7]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. curved, bent, crooked.[3]
  2. Winding, tortuous.[3]
  3. (of persons) Stooping, bowed (with age).[3]
  4. Wrong, deviating from what is right, curvum corrigere, to make the crooked straight.[3]

Noun

  1. curvum, a curve, a curved line.[3]
  • curvō
  • English curve
  • English curb

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d 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 j k l 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. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
Cite this entry

“Curvus.” Etymologically, 16 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/curvus. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

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