nux

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈnʊks]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈnuks]^[1]

Forms

nux f (genitive nucis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *knuk-.^[2] The word has cognates only in Celtic and Germanic, with different suffixes, and de Vaan, like Wiktionary, thinks it may be a loanword from a non-Indo-European language.^[2][1]

Cognate with Old Irish cnú (“nut”), Welsh cneuen, Old Norse hnot and Old English hnutu (“nut”),^[2] and with English nut.^[3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Naevius onwards.^[2] Plautus says that who wants the kernel from the nut breaks the nut.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It meant a nut of any kind, hazelnut, walnut or almond, the cone of a conifer as nux pinea, the capsule of a spurge in Pliny, and a nut tree.^[3]

Nuts were strewn at weddings, as in Virgil's “scatter nuts, bridegroom”.^[4] Children played with nuts, and nuces relinquere in Persius meant to give up childish things.^[5][6] Isidore thought the tree was named because its shade harms the trees near it (nocere).^[7] The word lives on in Romance, as Italian noce and French noix.^[8][1] English nucleus comes from its diminutive nucleus “kernel”.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 235–200 BC – Naevius uses it.^[2][10]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it in a proverb about the kernel.^[3][10]
• 234–149 BC – Cato uses nux of pine cones.^[3][10]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of nuts strewn at a wedding.^[4][10]
• 1704 – English nucleus is recorded, from its diminutive.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A nut (hazelnut, walnut, almond).^[3][1]
2. The cone of a conifer (nux pinea).^[3]
3. The capsule of a spurge.^[3]
4. A nut tree, an almond tree.^[3][1]
5. A thing of no value.^[1]

Word family

• nucalis
• nucāmentum
• nucella
• nucētum
• nuceus
• nucifer
• nucifrangibulum
• nucinus
• nuciprūnum
• nucleus
• nucula
• nucāmenta

Related words

• nucleātus
• nucleō
• nucleolus
• nūgae
• English nut
• English nucleus

Usage notes

Nuces relinquere, to leave one's nuts, meant to put away childish games.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
8. ^ Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de