incurvus Latin · revision 34227

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=derivation|attested=190–159 BC, Terence|origins=la curvus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ɪŋˈkʊr.wʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [iŋˈkur.vus]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''incurvus''' (feminine incurva, neuter incurvum); first/second-declension adjective^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The OLD and Wiktionary analyse it as [[af|la|in-|curvus|t2=curved]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) The TLL reports that Brender took it as a back-formation from the verb [[m|la|incurvō|t=to bend]], like [[m|la|recurvus]], while Leumann preferred to derive it from [[m|la|incurvēscō|t=to become curved]].^(TLL) De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of [[m|la|curvus]], whose etymology he calls uncertain: the best connection is with Celtic words for “hooked” from ⟨*kurso-⟩, such as [[sga|corr]], and perhaps [[grc|κυρτός|tr=kurtós|t=curved]], but a root ⟨*kur-⟩ is not a valid Indo-European structure.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan dates it from Terence,^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) whose ''Eunuchus'' has ''incurvos tremulus labiis demissis gemens'', “stooping, trembling, lips drooping, groaning”.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It means curved, crooked, bent: Varro has a crooked stick, Cicero the augur's staff, Lucretius a curving shore, Sallust buildings with curved sides, and Virgil the curved plough.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Of persons it means bent downwards, stooping or bowed, as an old man's statue in Cicero;^(OLD 2012) Pliny the Elder writes that people stooping at the shoulders are long-lived, and Apuleius has a man bent by labour.^(OLD 2012) The nominative singular is sometimes spelled ''incurvos'', as in Terence and Mela.^(TLL) Medieval British writers use it of bent or crooked limbs and of stooping persons;^(DMLBS) Bede describes a tall man ''paululum incurvus'', “slightly stooped”.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 190–159 BC – Terence uses it of a stooping person.^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of a crooked stick.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil has the curved plough.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * first third of the 8th century – Bede describes a tall man as slightly stooped.^(DMLBS)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # [[m|en|curved|alt=Curved]], [[m|en|crooked]], bent.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # Of persons, bent downwards, [[m|en|stooping]], bowed.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[incurvō]]

+ * [[incurvēscō]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Döderlein explains [[curvus]] as the general word for every degree of crookedness, against ''uncus'' for a hook-like bend and ''pandus'' for a slight one;^(Döderlein 1874) Lewis and Short oppose ''incurvus'' to ''recurvus'' and ''pandus''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}