Etymologically
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nox

Etymology and origin of the Latin word nox

History

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈnɔks][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈnɔks][1]

Forms

nox f (genitive noctis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *nok⁽ʷ⁾ts, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *nókʷts (“night”).[1] De Vaan reconstructs a PIE root noun *nógʷʰ-t-s, from a root whose verbal forms survive only in Anatolian, as in Hittite nekuzi (“to become night”).[2] It is cognate with Sanskrit नक्त् (nákt-), Ancient Greek νύξ (núx), Lithuanian naktìs, Old Church Slavonic нощь (noštь) and Gothic 𐌽𐌰𐌷𐍄𐍃 (nahts), all "night", and with Old Irish innocht (“tonight”).[2][3] English night belongs here through Old English niht.[1]

The Old Latin adverb nox "by night" is usually taken as an old genitive, while Pinault explains it instead from an old locative.[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The adverb nox "by night" appears in the Twelve Tables (c. 450 BC),[2][5] and the noun from Naevius (c. 235–200 BC) onwards.[2][5] In Plautus a slave walking alone in the dark asks who would be out "at this time of night" (hoc noctis).[4]

Semantic evolution

From the time between sunset and sunrise it came to mean nightfall, a particular night counted as a unit of time, and a night spent in a certain way, including a night of love.[4] Personified, Nox was a goddess, sister of Erebus and by him mother of Aether and Day.[4][6] Gellius named his miscellany Noctēs Atticae after the winter nights in Attica when he compiled it.[4]

Poets used the endless night for death: Catullus reminds Lesbia that "once our brief light has set, we must sleep one never-ending night".[4] It also meant darkness of any kind, the gloom of a storm or of the Underworld, and figuratively concealment, obscurity and confusion: Cicero speaks of the "storm and night" of the state.[4] The night that covers the eyes could stand for fainting or blindness.[4] Medieval Latin kept the old reckoning by nights in phrases such as tot noctēs, meaning "so many days".[7]

Timeline

  • c. 450 BC – The Twelve Tables use the adverb nox "by night".[2][5]
  • c. 235–200 BC – Naevius uses the noun.[2][5]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus speaks of telling one's woes to Night, the Sun and the Moon.[4][5]
  • 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus uses nox perpetua for death.[4][5]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses aeterna nox of death in the Aeneid.[4][5]
  • c. 165 AD – Aulus Gellius titles his work Noctēs Atticae.[4][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. night.[4][6]
  2. (personified) Night, the goddess Nox.[4][6]
  3. A particular night, as a measure or point of time.[4]
  4. A night spent in a certain way; a night of love.[4]
  5. darkness, gloom; the darkness of the underworld.[4]
  6. (poetic) death.[4]
  7. (figurative) concealment, obscurity, confusion.[4]
  8. blindness; loss of consciousness.[4]
  9. (Medieval Latin) In tot noctēs: so many days.[7]

Adverb

  1. (Old Latin) By night.[4][2]

Word family

  • abnoctō
  • binoctium
  • noctēscō
  • nocticola
  • nocticolor
  • noctifer
  • noctilūca
  • noctipuga
  • noctisurgium
  • noctivagus
  • noctividus
  • noctū
  • noctua
  • noctuābundus
  • noctuīnus
  • noctulūcus
  • nocturnus
  • noctuvigilus
  • English night

Usage notes

"By night" is usually nocte or noctū, also dē nocte, and diēs noctēsque or noctēs et diēs means "night and day, continually".[4][6] Multā nocte is "late at night" and mediā nocte "at midnight".[6][8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  8. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn

Related etymologies

  • hospes · also from Proto-Indo-European
  • verbum · also from Proto-Indo-European
  • ignis · also from Proto-Indo-European
  • mors · also from Proto-Indo-European
  • sal · also from Proto-Indo-European
  • rex · also from Proto-Indo-European
  • equus · also from Proto-Indo-European
  • pater · also from Proto-Indo-European
Cite this entry

“Nox.” Etymologically, 10 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/nox. Accessed 11 Oct. 2026.

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