caducus Latin · revision 31492

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=234–149 BC, Cato|origins=ine-pro *ḱh₂d-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

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

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

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''cadūcus''' (feminine cadūca, neuter cadūcum); first/second-declension adjective^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is formed from [[cadō|t=to fall]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) De Vaan derives the verb from [[itc-pro|*kad-e/o-]] and, with doubt, [[ine-pro|*(ḱe-)ḱh₂d-|t=to fall]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan and Köbler date it from Cato,^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) who directs that fallen olives be salted.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is unsteady or apt to fall, of people, of epileptics in a slave-sale contract, and of buildings likely to collapse.^(OLD 2012) It is falling or dropping, as Horace's thunderbolt, and fallen, as Cato's olives and Lucretius' fallen acorns; in augury ''cadūca auspicia'' were omens from something dropped in the sacred precinct.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) It is also fallen in battle, drooping, as Cicero's vine, ripe and ready to fall, and of persons destined to die, especially young, as Virgil's doomed youth.^(OLD 2012) From this it is perishable or fleeting, as Cicero's “nothing mortal and perishable”, and of hopes vain or futile.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) In law it is property that is not taken up by an heir and lapses, as Cicero's lapsed inheritances.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ Church Latin glosses it “perishable, weak, frail, transitory”.^(Stelten 1995) In medieval Latin it is property passing to someone by inheritance, and ''cadūcum'' is an inheritance or mortmain.^(Niermeyer 1976) English ''caducous'', in botany, is from it in 1797.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato of fallen olives.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero of a drooping vine, of perishable things and of lapsed inheritances.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil of a youth doomed to die.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1797 – English [[m|en|caducous]], in botany.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Unsteady, tottering, likely to collapse; [[m|en|epileptic]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Falling; fallen; fallen in battle.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Drooping; ready or liable to fall.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Destined to die, doomed.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # [[m|en|perishable|alt=Perishable]], fleeting, transitory; vain, futile.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # ''(law)'' Of property, lapsed, vacant.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' Passing by inheritance; neuter as a noun, an inheritance, [[m|en|mortmain]].^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[cadūcum]]

+ * [[cadūcārius]]

+ * [[cadūciter]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[cadō]]

+ * [[cāsus]]

+ * [[cadāver]]

+ * [[en|caducous]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}