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incus

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word incus

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*kuh₂-d-e/o-)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin cudo
Latin procudo
Latin incus
Latin excudo

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈɪŋ.kuːs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈiŋ.kus][1]

Forms

incūs f (genitive incūdis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- + cūdō (“to strike, forge”).[2][3] Wiktionary derives it from incūdō (“to forge”).[1] The verb goes back to Proto-Italic *kūd-e/o- and Proto-Indo-European *kuh₂-d-e/o- (“to hit”).[4] Cognate with Lithuanian káuti (“to hit”), Old High German houwan (“to hew”) and hew.[4][5] Nonius already explained it from the mass of metal that is struck with hammers on it.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus,[4][6] who uses it figuratively in the Pseudolus: "this is my anvil: here today I will forge many tricks".[7]

Semantic evolution

It is an anvil:[2][7] Cicero speaks of working without bellows and anvils, Virgil of swords ringing on hard anvils, and Horace of reforging iron on a new anvil.[7] The proverb eandem incūdem tundere, "to beat the same anvil", means to keep working at the same thing, in Cicero and Ammianus Marcellinus.[7] Figuratively Tacitus has young men still on the anvil of their studies, and Horace tells a poet to return badly made verses to the anvil.[7] Late Latin also has incūdō, -inis, in Jerome and Venantius Fortunatus.[3] It survives in Italian incudine, French enclume and Old Spanish ayunque.[3] English incus, the anvil bone of the middle ear, was named by Vesalius.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of an anvil for tricks.[7][4][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of anvils and of the proverb.[7]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of swords on anvils.[7]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus of young men on the anvil of study.[7]
  • 1660s – English incus for the ear bone.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. An anvil.[2][7][1]
  2. (figurative) The place where something is shaped;[7] eandem incūdem tundere, to keep working at the same thing;[7] incūdī reddere, to revise.[7]

References

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

“Incus.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/incus. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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