mucro Latin · revision 31432

+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|formation=inherited|attested=204–169 BC, Ennius}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈmʊ.kroː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈmuː.kro]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''mūcrō''' ''m'' (genitive mūcrōnis); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It may be [[inh|itc-pro|*m(e/o)uk-ro-]], [[inh|ine-pro|*(h₂)muḱ-ro-]], but de Vaan is not sure.^(de Vaan 2008) He compares [[grc|ἀμύσσω|tr=amússō|t=to scratch, tear]], [[m|grc|ἀμυχή|tr=amukhḗ|t=rent, wound]] and Hesychius' [[m|grc|ἀμυκάλαι|tr=amukálai|t=arrow tips]];^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012)^(TLL) Lithuanian [[m|lt|mùšti|t=to beat]] may belong here but means “beat”, not “scratch”.^(de Vaan 2008)^(TLL) The length of the vowel is disputed: it is long in early Latin poetry, which suggests ⟨mū-⟩.^(de Vaan 2008) Wiktionary takes it as an n-stem made from a lost adjective meaning “pointed, sharp”.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ Isidore of Seville derived it from Greek [[m|grc|μακρός|tr=makrós|t=long]], for its length.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan dates it from Ennius,^(de Vaan 2008) who has a fighter who “turns the sword's point”;^(OLD 2012) Lucilius has it as the point of a sword.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is the sharp end of a sword, and by extension the sword itself in action, as in Ennius.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary) It is also the point of other implements, as the point of a vine-dresser's knife in Columella, the edge of a knife in Juvenal, and any tapering tip, as the tips of shells and of leaves in Pliny the Elder.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Lewis and Short compare it with ''aciēs'' and ''cuspis'',^(Lewis & Short 1879) and Döderlein separates ''aciēs'', the sharpness of a cutting edge, from ''acūmen'', a point for piercing.^(Döderlein 1874)

+

+ Church Latin glosses it “point, sharp edge”.^(Stelten 1995) Köbler finds it in the Bible, the glosses and medieval saints' lives.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 204–169 BC – Ennius of a sword's point in action.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius of the point of a sword.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1st century AD – Columella of the point of a pruning knife.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of the tips of shells.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville explains it from Greek “long”.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The sharp [[m|en|point]] of a sword;^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995) ''(by extension)'' a [[m|en|sword]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The point or edge of other implements.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A tapering projection, a tip.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[mūcrōnātus]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[aciēs]]

+ * [[cuspis]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}