nocturnus

Forms

nocturnus (feminine nocturna, neuter nocturnum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin nox (“night”) + -urnus, on the model of diurnus (“daily”).^[2][1][3][4] De Vaan cites Pinault's view that it, like noctū (“by night”), rests on an old locative ⟨*nokʷt-eu⟩.^[4] nox goes back to Proto-Italic *nok(w)-t- and Proto-Indo-European *nókʷts (“night”).^[4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Naevius,^[4] who calls robbers nocturnōs … praemiātōrēs, “night-time bounty hunters”.^[2] Köbler also records it in Plautus.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Nocturnus is “of the night” (Cicero: hōrīs nocturnīs), “used at night” (Horace: a night-garment), and of events “happening at night” (Cicero: nocturnal sacrifices).^[2][3][1] The triumvirī nocturnī were magistrates who watched over the safety of Rome by night.^[2] Of persons and animals it is “active by night”, so fūr nocturnus, “a burglar”, and of the owl nocturna strīx (Horace); as a noun Nocturnus is the god of night in Plautus.^[2] Poets use it adverbially, “by night” (Virgil: he steered the ship on the waters at night).^[2]

In medieval Latin nocturnī and nocturna are the night office, a service held at night.^[6] English nocturne comes from it through French in 1851.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 235–200 BC – Naevius: nocturnōs … praemiātōrēs.^[2][5]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of the god of night.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero: hōrīs nocturnīs.^[2][5]
• 1851 – English nocturne.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of the night, nocturnal.^[2][3][1]
2. Used at night; happening at night.^[2]
3. Active by night, (fūr nocturnus) a burglar.^[2]
4. By night (with adverbial force).^[2]

Noun

1. Nocturnus, the god of night.^[2]
2. (Medieval Latin, plural) The night office.^[6]

Word family

• nocturnālis

Related words

• nox
• noctū
• diurnus
• English nocturne

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
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 d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com