ductus Latin · revision 32109

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=ine-pro *deuk-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈdʊk.tʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈduk.tus]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''ductus''' ''m'' (genitive ductūs); fourth declension^(Wiktionary)

+ An inscription has a neuter ''ductum''.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|dūcō|-tus|t1=to lead, draw]], a fourth-declension action noun.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Wiktionary) De Vaan traces [[m|la|dūcō]] to [[itc-pro|*douk-e-]] and [[ine-pro|*deuk-e/o-|t=to draw]].^(de Vaan 2008) Cognate with [[wlm|dwc|t=leads, brings]] and [[sq|nduk|t=to pull]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus,^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) who in the ''Amphitruo'' speaks of a commander who conducted the state's business under his own command.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Its first sense is military leadership or command, and Ovid uses it figuratively of a girl captured under his leadership.^(OLD 2012) It also means the conveyance of water, and ''aquae ductus'', also written as one word, is an aqueduct, as in Cicero's letters and Frontinus' work on the aqueducts of Rome.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) It means a movement in a particular line, as Seneca's carver guiding his skilled hand along the breast, a line drawn or an outline, and a linear arrangement, as Cicero's line of the city wall.^(OLD 2012) In rhetoric it is a line of treatment, as in Quintilian.^(OLD 2012) It also means drawing or pulling, as Columella's pruning done with a draw of the knife, and a draught of fish.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ Church Latin glosses it leadership, direction, purpose, and the swing of a censer.^(Stelten 1995) In medieval Latin it can mean carting.^(Niermeyer 1976) English borrowed ''duct'' in the 1640s.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of military command.^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero of an aqueduct and of the line of a wall.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of a girl captured under his leadership.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca of a carver's movements.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1640s – Borrowed into English as [[m|en|duct]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # Military [[m|en|leadership]], command; generalship.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The conveyance of water;^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary) ''aquae ductus'', an [[m|en|aqueduct]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Movement in a particular line, a controlled movement.^(OLD 2012)

+ # A line drawn, an [[m|en|outline]]; a linear arrangement.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(rhetoric)'' A line of treatment; the structure of a play.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Drawing, pulling; a draught of fish.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(Ecclesiastical Latin)'' Direction, purpose; the swing of a [[m|en|censer]].^(Stelten 1995)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' Carting.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[interductus]]

+ * [[aquaeductus]]

+ * [[ōviductus]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[duco|alt=dūcō]]

+ * [[dux]]

+ * [[en|duct]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}