cloaca Latin · revision 33260

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

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [kɫoˈaː.ka], [kɫoˈaː.kaː]^(Wiktionary)

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

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''cloāca''' ''f'' (genitive cloācae); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+ Varro and inscriptions have ''clouāca'', and ''cluāca'' also occurs.^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[der|itc-pro|*klowā-|t=to clean]], a verb that de Vaan, following Vine, derives from an adjective [[ine-pro|*ḱleuH-o-|t=clear, clean]]; the verb may survive in [[m|la|cloō|t=to purify]], a gloss in Servius whose reliability is often doubted.^(de Vaan 2008) Cognate with [[cy|clir|t=clean]], [[grc|κλύζω|tr=klúzō|t=to wash]] and [[lt|šlúoti|t=to sweep]].^(de Vaan 2008) The OLD derives it from [[m|la|cluō|t=to cleanse]],^(OLD 2012) a verb that Walde–Hofmann and Rix think Pliny may have invented to explain the name [[m|la|Cluācīna]].^(de Vaan 2008) Wiktionary calls the derivation uncertain.^(Wiktionary) Festus said the sewers were named from washing, and Isidore because water drains through them.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan dates it from Plautus,^(de Vaan 2008) in whom a drunken woman's gullet is meant: “quickly pour this into the abyss, swiftly flush the sewer”.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is an underground drain or sewer.^(OLD 2012) Lewis & Short describe the great sewer of Rome, which they ascribe to Tarquinius Priscus, carrying filth from the streets into the Tiber;^(Lewis & Short 1879) Livy and Pliny the Elder describe it.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Cicero has the proverb ''arcem facere e cloācā'', “to make a citadel out of a sewer”, that is, to make much of little.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Plautus and Varro apply it humorously to the stomach or bowels of a glutton.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Venus was worshipped as ''Cloācīna'', perhaps “the purifier”.^(de Vaan 2008) Church Latin has it as sewer, drain.^(Stelten 1995) In New Latin it became the anatomical term for the common opening of the intestinal and urogenital tracts.^(Wiktionary) English took [[m|en|cloaca]] in the 1650s as a euphemism for a sewer.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, of a drunken woman's gullet.^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro, of the bowels, in the form ''clouāca''.^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero, of sewers and in a proverb.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1650s – Borrowed into English as [[m|en|cloaca]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # An underground [[m|en|drain]], [[m|en|sewer]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(humorous)'' The stomach or bowels of a glutton or drunkard.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(New Latin, anatomy)'' The [[m|en|cloaca]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[cloācālis]]

+ * [[cloācārium]]

+ * [[cloacula]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[cluō]]

+ * [[en|cloaca]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}