rhinoceros

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [rʰiːˈnɔ.kɛ.roːs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [riˈnɔː.t͡ʃe.ros]^[1]

Forms

rhīnocerōs m (genitive rhīnocerōtis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ῥινόκερως (rhinókerōs, “rhinoceros”),^[2][1] from ῥίς (rhís, “nose”) and κέρας (kéras, “horn”).^[1] Lucilius writes rinoceros and rinocerus.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lucilius has the forms rinoceros and rinocerus.^[3] Köbler dates Lucilius c. 180–102 BC.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It was the African or Indian rhinoceros, shown in Martial's shows and described by Pliny, Curtius and Suetonius.^[3][5] By metonymy it was an oil flask of rhinoceros horn, as in Martial and Juvenal.^[3][6] Martial says that to have a rhinoceros's nose means to be sharp-witted.^[6]

The Vulgate has the horns of the rhinoceros in Deuteronomy, and medieval writers took it for a one-horned beast, the unicorn.^[5][7] English rhinoceros is recorded around 1300.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius uses the form rinoceros.^[3][4]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder describes the rhinoceros.^[5][4]
• 40–102/103 AD – Martial uses it of a flask.^[3][4]
• c. 1300 – English rhinoceros is recorded.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A rhinoceros.^[3][5]
2. A flask of rhinoceros horn.^[3][6]
3. (Medieval Latin) A one-horned beast, a unicorn.^[7]

Related words

• English rhinoceros

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com