Etymologically
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naucum

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈnau̯.kũː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈnaːu̯.kum][1]

Forms

naucum n (genitive naucī); second declension[1]

Etymology

Its origin is unclear.[2][3] Strunk revives the ancient connection with nux “nut”, as if it first meant a nutshell, which de Vaan finds semantically attractive, though the /au/ is unexplained.[4][1] The TLL derives it from nux by an unusual vowel change, perhaps through an Oscan pronunciation.[5] Festus reports that the ancients explained it as trifles, the inside of an olive stone, the husk of anything, the hilum of a bean, or the partition of a walnut.[6][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Naevius.[4][3] Köbler dates Naevius c. 235–200 BC.[3]

Semantic evolution

It meant a thing of trifling value, and was used almost only in the genitive with a negative, nōn naucī “worthless”, as Plautus' homō nōn naucī and Ennius' trifler worth nothing.[2][6] Cicero has nōn habēre naucī “to think worthless”.[7]

In Medieval Latin a homō naucī was a worthless person, and the word was also used of the part of a fruit enveloping the kernel.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 235–200 BC – Naevius uses it.[4][3]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses nōn naucī.[6][3]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of thinking someone worthless.[7][3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A trifle, nōn naucī, worthless.[2]
  2. (Medieval Latin) The husk around a kernel.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  4. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  8. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press