cycnus

Forms

cycnus m (genitive cycnī); second declension^[1] Manuscripts and editions often have cygnus.^[2][3] Horace scans the first syllable short.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek κύκνος (kúknos, “swan”).^[2][3][1][4] Köbler tentatively connects the Greek word with Pokorny's root Proto-Indo-European *kan- (“to sound, sing”).^[5] Isidore says that the swan, called ⟨olor⟩ in Latin, took this name from singing, because it pours out sweet song.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Lucretius,^[5] who asks how a swallow could compete with swans.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is the swan, famous for its song, above all its dying song, and sacred to Apollo, as in Cicero and Pliny the Elder.^[3][2] Virgil has owls competing with swans.^[2] In augury it was a favourable omen: Virgil has twelve swans rejoicing in a flock.^[2] Swans also draw the chariot of Venus or of love poets, as in Propertius and Ovid.^[2] Figuratively it is a poet, especially a singer.^[1] Church Latin glosses it swan.^[6] English cygnet (c. 1400) is a diminutive of cigne, from the Latin form ⟨cygnus⟩.^[7]

Timeline

• 96–55 BC – Lucretius of swans and swallows.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of swans sacred to Apollo.^[3][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil of swans as an omen.^[2][5]
• 57/46–12 BC – Propertius of swans drawing a chariot.^[2][5]
• c. 1400 – English cygnet.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A swan, noted for its song and sacred to Apollo.^[2][3][1][6]
2. (figurative) A poet.^[1]

Word family

• cycnēus

Related words

• olor
• English cygnet

Usage notes

Cycnus is also the name of several figures of myth: a king of Liguria, son of Sthenelus, who was turned into a swan and placed among the stars, and a son of Neptune.^[2][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com