Etymologically
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rhinoceros

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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]

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