scopulus Latin · revision 31078

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=204–169 BC, Ennius|origins=grc σκόπελος}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈskɔ.pʊ.ɫʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈskɔː.pu.lus]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''scopulus''' ''m'' (genitive scopulī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|grc|σκόπελος|tr=skópelos|t=lookout place, peak, rock]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Saalfeld 1874)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Saalfeld explains the Greek word as a high place from which one can look far around, from [[m|grc|σκοπέω|tr=skopéō|t=to look out]];^(Saalfeld 1874) Wiktionary compares Latin [[m|la|specula|t=watchtower]], from a related root.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Saalfeld and Köbler find it first in Ennius' ''Annals'', in the figurative “rocks of the Muses”;^(Saalfeld 1874)^(Köbler 2010)^(Lewis & Short 1879) the OLD's first example is Turpilius' “the rocks of the sea, the roar, the loneliness”.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is a projecting rock in the sea or on the coast, a danger to ships, as in Caesar, where rowers were dashed against the rocks.^(OLD 2012)^(Saalfeld 1874) Figuratively it is a danger or source of ruin: Ennius already speaks of “the rocks of the Muses”, Terence of carrying someone from calm water onto a rock, and Cicero often uses the figure.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Saalfeld 1874) Inland it is a crag (Virgil), a type of stubbornness, as Horace's lover “deafer than the rocks”, and a boulder hurled by Etna.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ Church Latin glosses it “rock, cliff, crag”.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 204–169 BC – Ennius in the ''Annals''.^(Saalfeld 1874)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 2nd century BC – Turpilius of rocks in the sea.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 50 BC – Caesar of rocks wrecking rowers.^(Saalfeld 1874)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 65–8 BC – Horace of stubbornness.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A projecting rock, [[m|en|crag]], [[m|en|cliff]], especially in the sea.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(figurative)'' A danger, a source of ruin.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # An inland crag; a type of hardness or deafness.^(OLD 2012)

+ # A [[m|en|boulder]].^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[scopulōsus]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[saxum]]

+ * [[rūpēs]]

+ * [[specula]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Döderlein counts it among the words for large masses of stone, beside [[saxum]], [[rūpēs]] and [[cautēs]].^(Döderlein 1874)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}