equus

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈɛ.kʊs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈɛː.kʷus]^[1]

Forms

equus m (genitive equī, feminine equa); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *ekʷo-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eḱ-u- (“horse”).^[2] Following Kloekhorst, de Vaan takes the Anatolian forms to show an original u-stem, which the other branches turned into the thematic *h₁éḱwos.^[2][1] In Latin the old paradigm must have had a nominative *ekos and a genitive *ekwī, and the stem equ- was generalised from the oblique cases.^[2] The spelling ⟨quu⟩ replaced earlier ⟨quo⟩ and ⟨cu⟩ after the Augustan age, on the model of the oblique cases.^[1]

It is cognate with Venetic ekvon (accusative), Gaulish epo-, Old Irish ech, Sanskrit अश्व (áśva-), Ancient Greek ἵππος (híppos), Old English eoh, Old Norse jór and Lithuanian ašvíenis (“stallion”).^[2] The TLL called the change seen in the Greek form not yet clear.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Livius Andronicus (280/260–before 200 BC).^[2][4] The OLD's first quotation is from Ennius, of a horse that "often won at Olympia in the last lap".^[5]

Semantic evolution

Besides the horse in general it could mean a stallion, as opposed to the mare equa.^[5][6] Poets gave horses to the Sun and Night and even to the winds.^[5] Equus fluviātilis, "river horse", was the hippopotamus.^[5] The equus pūblicus was the horse provided by the state to a Roman cavalryman and later the mark of the equestrian order, which could be taken away for misconduct.^[5] It also named a statue of a horse, above all the Trojan Horse, a horse-shaped standard, and the constellation Pegasus.^[5] In late Latin equī pūblicī were post-horses,^[7] and in medieval Latin equus was especially the war-horse.^[8]

Timeline

• 280/260–before 200 BC – Livius Andronicus uses the word.^[2][4]
• 204–169 BC – Ennius describes an Olympic racehorse and the Trojan Horse.^[5][4]
• 190–159 BC – Terence speaks of keeping horses.^[5][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it for the constellation Pegasus in his Aratea.^[5][4]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder calls the hippopotamus equus fluviātilis.^[5][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A horse.^[5][7]
2. A stallion.^[5][6]
3. equus pūblicus: the horse granted by the state to a cavalryman or a member of the equestrian order.^[5]
4. A statue or image of a horse; the Trojan Horse.^[5]
5. equus fluviātilis: the hippopotamus.^[5]
6. (astronomy) The constellation Pegasus.^[5]
7. (Late Latin, plural) Post-horses.^[7]
8. (Medieval Latin) A war-horse.^[8]

Word family

• equisaetum
• equīsō

Related words

• equa
• equārius
• eques
• equester
• equiferus
• equīle
• equimulga
• equīnus
• equiō
• equīria
• English equine

Usage notes

Equīs virīsque, "with horses and men", meant colloquially "with all one's might".^[5] The genitive plural equum is found in Virgil and later poets.^[5][7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill