Etymologically
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uxor

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈʊk.sɔr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈuk.sor][1]

Forms

uxor f (genitive uxōris); third declension[1] Inscriptions spell it uxsor, oxor and uoxor.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *uksōr (“wife”), of unknown origin.[1][4] Compare Faliscan uxor (“wife”).[4] De Vaan dismisses the proposals: ⟨*uks-or-⟩ “inseminated one”, from the root of Sanskrit उक्षन् (ukṣán, “bull”) (also compared by the OLD, with the English word ox), ⟨*uǵʰ-sor-⟩ “woman who is conveyed”, and a change of meaning from “ox” to “wife”.[4][2] Wiktionary mentions attempts to link it with Latvian uõsis (“father-in-law”) and Lithuanian uošvė (“mother-in-law”).[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Livius Andronicus;[5] de Vaan from Naevius.[4] Plautus has licuit uxōrem dōtātam dūcere, “I could have married a wife with a dowry”.[3]

Semantic evolution

Uxor is a wife;[2][3] uxōrem dūcere “to lead home a wife” is the usual phrase for a man's marrying.[2][3] From it come uxōrius “of a wife” and Plautus' uxorcula “little wife”.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 280–200 BC – First found in Livius Andronicus.[5]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: uxōrem dōtātam dūcere.[3][5]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses uxor opposite marītus.[6][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A wife, spouse.[2][3][1][7]
  2. uxōrem dūcere, to marry (of a man).[3]

Word family

  • inuxorus
  • uxorcula
  • uxōrius

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes uxor, a wife in relation to the man who married her (opposite marītus), from coniūnx, a spouse as half of a pair and on a par with the husband;[6] uxor suits an ordinary marriage, coniūnx a marriage of people of rank, like English “consort”.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson