truncus Latin · revision 30974

+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|attested=c. 180–102 BC, Lucilius}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈtrʊŋ.kʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈtruŋ.kus]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''truncus''' (feminine trunca, neuter truncum); first and second declension (adjective)^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary); '''truncus''' ''m'' (genitive truncī); second declension (noun)^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ Its origin is uncertain.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) De Vaan takes the adjective “maimed, lopped” as the starting point, although the noun “trunk, torso” and verbs such as [[m|la|obtruncō|t=to cut down]] are recorded earlier, and he sees no good reason to connect it with [[got|𐌸𐍂𐌴𐌹𐌷𐌰𐌽|tr=þreihan|t=to press]] or [[lt|triñkti|t=to thrust]]; he also rejects Hamp's “pertaining to a tree”.^(de Vaan 2008) The OLD compares [[lt|trenkiù]], [[cy|trŵch]] and [[gmh|strunc]], and Köbler a root [[ine-pro|*trenk-|t=to push]];^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)^(Wiktionary) Wiktionary suggests [[ine-pro|*twerḱ-|t=to cut]].^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)^(Wiktionary) The noun is formed from the adjective.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan gives Lucilius as the first author for the noun: ''collō caput sustentātur, truncus sustinētur coxendicibus'', “the head is held up by the neck, the trunk by the hips”.^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012) The adjective he finds first in Varro.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ As an adjective it is maimed or mutilated, as Catullus' headless body sinking at the knee, of trees lopped of their branches, as Varro's hedge of trimmed trees, and of things marred, as Virgil's broken weapons.^(OLD 2012) Of limbs it is lopped off, and of growth stunted: Propertius' dwarf waves his stumpy hands.^(OLD 2012) By extension it is lacking some part: Livy's city is maimed, without senate, people or magistrates.^(OLD 2012) Lewis and Short call it mostly poetic, with ''mutilus'' and ''mancus'' as synonyms.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ As a noun it is the human trunk or torso, the trunk of a tree (Cicero), and in Vitruvius the shaft of a column or the die of a pedestal.^(OLD 2012) Döderlein contrasts it with [[stirps]], the living stock of a tree, as the bare trunk.^(Döderlein 1874)

+

+ Church Latin has it as “maimed, mutilated, imperfect” and as a noun “stump, trunk”.^(Stelten 1995) Medieval Latin uses the noun for an iron tool, an offertory box, a box or chest, a fuller's block and other blocks.^(Niermeyer 1976) English ''trunk'' (mid-15th century), first “box, case”, comes from it through Anglo-French and Old French ''tronc'', an alms box.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius of the human trunk.^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro of lopped trees.^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero of the trunk of a tree.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus of a headless body.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius of the shaft of a column.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * mid-15th century – English [[m|en|trunk]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # [[m|en|maimed|alt=Maimed]], [[m|en|mutilated]];^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995) ''(of trees)'' lopped.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # ''(of limbs)'' Cut off; stunted.^(OLD 2012)

+ # Lacking a part, defective.^(OLD 2012)^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # The human [[m|en|trunk]], [[m|en|torso]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The trunk of a tree; a stump.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # ''(architecture)'' The [[m|en|shaft]] of a column; the die of a pedestal.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(figurative)'' A [[m|en|blockhead]].^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' An offertory box; a box, chest; a fuller's block.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[subtruncus]]

+ * [[truncō]]

+ * [[trunculus]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[obtruncō]]

+ * [[stirps]]

+ * [[en|trunk]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}