iocus

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈjɔ.kʊs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈjɔː.kus]^[1]

Forms

iocus m (genitive iocī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *joko-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *yok-o- (“word, utterance”), from the root *yek- (“to speak”).^[2][1][3] The original sense was thus a playful word or speech.^[4]

Cognate with Umbrian iuka (“words, prayers”), Welsh iaith (“language”), Breton yezh (“language”) and Old High German jehan (“to say, declare”).^[2][5] Lithuanian juõkas (“laughter, joke”) is probably a borrowing from German.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus onwards,^[2] and Köbler from Ennius.^[6] In the Mercator Plautus lists iocus with life, friendship, joy and play among the companions a young man has found.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant a joke or jest, and more widely fun and amusement, often opposed to what is serious, as in ioca seria “jest and earnest”.^[5][7] Plautus and Horace personified it as a god of jesting.^[5] Phrases such as per iocum “in jest” and extra iocum “joking apart” were common, and Cicero always uses the neuter plural ioca.^[5][7] It also meant a laughing stock and a trifle, “child's play”.^[5]

In medieval Latin it named a joust or tournament,^[8] and it gave French jeu, Italian gioco and Spanish juego “game”.^[1][3] English borrowed it as English joke in the 1660s, at first as a slang word.^[3]

Timeline

• 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it.^[6]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus personifies Iocus and uses ioco for “in jest”.^[5][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero writes extra iocum “joking apart”.^[5][6]
• 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus complains that a woman takes him for a laughing stock.^[5][6]
• Middle Ages – It means a joust or tournament.^[8]
• 1660s – English borrows it as English joke.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A joke, jest; fun, sport, per iocum: in jest.^[5][7]
2. Iocus: the god of jesting.^[5]
3. A laughing stock.^[5]
4. A trifle, child's play.^[5]
5. (Medieval Latin) A joust, tournament.^[8]

Word family

• iocōsus
• ioculus
• iocāliter
• iocor

Related words

• iocābundus
• iocātiō
• iocōsē
• ioculanter
• ioculāris
• ioculāriter
• ioculārius
• ioculātiō
• ioculātor
• ioculātōrius
• English joke
• English jeopardy
• English jewel

Usage notes

The plural is either masculine ioci or neuter ioca.^[5][9]

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 Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften