Etymologically
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sulcus

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈsʊɫ.kʊs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈsul.kus][1]

Forms

sulcus m (genitive sulcī); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *solko-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *solk-o- (“furrow”), from the root Proto-Indo-European *selk- (“to pull, draw”).[2][3] Greek holkós makes *solko- likelier than *sl̥k-o-.[2] Cognate with Ancient Greek ὁλκός (holkós, “furrow; hauling-engine”), Ancient Greek ἕλκω (hélkō, “to draw, drag”), Albanian heq (“to draw”) and Old English sulh (“plough”).[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus, who says that ploughing kills an ox in every fifth furrow.[2][4] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant a furrow made by the plough, also the furrow ploughed to mark the line of a city, a narrow ditch or trench for water or for planting, as in Cato, and any furrow or rut left by something moving, as a ship's wake.[4][6][7] Of the skin it meant a wrinkle, as in Martial.[4] Döderlein says sulcus is the furrow itself, porca the ridge between two furrows.[8]

It survives in Italian solco, Catalan solc and Romanian sulc.[1] English sulcus was borrowed in the 1660s for a groove, and in anatomy for a fissure of the brain.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a ploughed furrow.[4][5]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of a drainage trench.[4][5]
  • 40–102/103 AD – Martial uses it of wrinkles.[4][5]
  • 1660s – English sulcus is recorded.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A furrow made by the plough.[4]
  2. A narrow ditch, trench.[4]
  3. A furrow or rut; a ship's wake.[4][7]
  4. A wrinkle.[4]

Word family

  • bisulcis
  • trisulcus
  • bisulcus
  • sulcō

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  8. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper