Etymologically
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nidus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈniː.dʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈniː.dus][1]

Forms

nīdus m (genitive nīdī); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *nizdo-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *nisdo- (“nest”), a compound of *ni (“down”) and the root *sd- (“to sit”), “where one sits down”.[2][1] Cognate with Sanskrit नीड (nīḍá, “nest, lair”), Old Armenian նիստ (nist, “residence”), Old Church Slavonic гнѣздо (gnězdo, “nest”), Welsh nyth (“nest”), Lithuanian lìzdas (“nest”) and English nest.[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus,[2][4] in whose Rudens someone wants to snatch the swallows from their nest.[3]

Semantic evolution

It means the nest of a bird or other creature;[3][5] Cicero speaks of birds building nests, and Virgil of the swallow hanging its nest from the beams.[3][5] By transfer it is a lofty retreat, as Horace's “nest of high Acherontia”.[3] By metonymy it is a brood of nestlings, as in the Georgics, where birds carry food to their greedy young.[3] Varro uses it apparently of a nest-shaped bowl, and Martial of a pigeonhole in a bookshop.[3] Church Latin glosses it nest, brood.[6] English borrowed nidus in 1742.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of swallows' nests.[3][2][4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of birds building nests.[5][4]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of nests and of broods.[3][5][4]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace of a lofty town.[3][4]
  • 40–102/103 AD – Martial of a pigeonhole.[3][4]
  • 1742 – Borrowed into English as nidus.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A nest of a bird or other creature.[3][5][6][1]
  2. A lofty retreat, an eyrie.[3]
  3. A brood of nestlings; the young of other animals.[3][6]
  4. A nest-shaped vessel, a bowl.[3]
  5. A compartment, pigeonhole.[3]

Word family

  • nīdificō
  • nīdifōrmis

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f 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 e f g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com