Etymologically
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nux

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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
  • 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