furca Latin · revision 33094

+ {{infobox|confidence=unknown|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈfʊr.ka]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈfur.ka]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''furca''' ''f'' (genitive furcae); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The origin is unknown.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010) De Vaan rejects the older explanations, which all start from ⟨*ǵʰ-⟩: words such as [[lt|žìrklės|t=scissors]] point to a root ⟨*ǵʰ(e/o)rg-⟩, but the vowel of the Latin noun does not fit, and borrowing from another dialect would be an emergency solution.^(de Vaan 2008) Wiktionary likewise calls it of uncertain origin.^(Wiktionary) The TLL considers a link with [[m|la|fulciō|t=to prop]] through [[m|la|furcula]].^(TLL)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan and Köbler find it first in Plautus,^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) who in the ''Casina'' threatens someone with carrying the “dog” and the fork, a punishment collar.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is a two-pronged instrument, a fork: Caesar has casks pushed off the works with poles and forks, and Virgil men sharpening stakes and two-horned forks.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) It is also a forked prop: Cato tells the farmer to fix forks around a plant and stretch poles across them.^(OLD 2012) Soldiers carried their packs on a fork, according to Festus, and Pliny the Elder uses it of a gallows-shaped frame on which dogs were fixed alive.^(OLD 2012) Above all it was a forked frame placed on a man's neck with his arms tied to its ends, as a punishment, as in Plautus.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) Apuleius uses the plural of a crab's claws,^(OLD 2012) and ''Furcae Caudīnae'' are the Caudine Forks, where a Roman army was sent under the yoke by the Samnites.^(OLD 2012) In medieval Latin it also means the gallows, a fork in a road, and a labour service of bringing in the hay.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of the punishment fork.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato of forked props.^(OLD 2012)

+ * c. 50 BC – Caesar of forks used to push off casks.^(OLD 2012)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of a forked frame.^(OLD 2012)

+ * c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius of crabs' claws.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A two-pronged instrument, a [[m|en|fork]], [[m|en|pitchfork]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A forked prop or stake; a fork for carrying loads; a forked frame used as a cross or gallows.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A forked frame put on a man's neck as a punishment, a [[m|en|yoke]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(plural)'' The claws of a crab.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''Furcae Caudīnae'': the Caudine Forks.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' The [[m|en|gallows]]; a bifurcation; a hay-making service.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[bifurcus]]

+ * [[furcifer]]

+ * [[furcosus]]

+ * [[furcula]]

+ * [[trifurcus]]

+ * [[furcilla]]

+ * [[quadrifurcus]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[furcillātus]]

+ * [[furcillō]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}