cycnus Latin · revision 32709

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=96–55 BC, Lucretius|origins=grc κύκνος}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈkyk.nʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈt͡ʃik.nus]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''cycnus''' ''m'' (genitive cycnī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+ Manuscripts and editions often have ''cygnus''.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Horace scans the first syllable short.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|grc|κύκνος|tr=kúknos|t=swan]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)^(TLL) Köbler tentatively connects the Greek word with Pokorny's root [[ine-pro|*kan-|t=to sound, sing]].^(Köbler 2010) Isidore says that the swan, called ⟨olor⟩ in Latin, took this name from singing, because it pours out sweet song.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Köbler dates it from Lucretius,^(Köbler 2010) who asks how a swallow could compete with swans.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is the swan, famous for its song, above all its dying song, and sacred to Apollo, as in Cicero and Pliny the Elder.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(OLD 2012) Virgil has owls competing with swans.^(OLD 2012) In augury it was a favourable omen: Virgil has twelve swans rejoicing in a flock.^(OLD 2012) Swans also draw the chariot of Venus or of love poets, as in Propertius and Ovid.^(OLD 2012) Figuratively it is a poet, especially a singer.^(Wiktionary) Church Latin glosses it swan.^(Stelten 1995) English [[m|en|cygnet]] (c. 1400) is a diminutive of [[m|fro|cigne]], from the Latin form ⟨cygnus⟩.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 96–55 BC – Lucretius of swans and swallows.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero of swans sacred to Apollo.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil of swans as an omen.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 57/46–12 BC – Propertius of swans drawing a chariot.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 1400 – English ''cygnet''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|swan]], noted for its song and sacred to Apollo.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

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

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[cycnēus]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[olor]]

+ * [[en|cygnet]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Cycnus'' is also the name of several figures of myth: a king of Liguria, son of Sthenelus, who was turned into a swan and placed among the stars, and a son of Neptune.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}