caco Latin · revision 3994

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=Pomponius|origins=itc-pro *kak(k)-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈka.koː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈkaː.ko]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''cacō''' (present infinitive cacāre, perfect active cacāvī, supine cacātum); first conjugation^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|itc-pro|*kak(k)-]].^(de Vaan 2008) Cognate with [[mga|caccaim]], [[cy|cachu]], [[grc|κακκάω|tr=kakkáō|t=to defecate]], [[xcl|քաքոր|tr=kʻakʻor|t=manure]], [[ru|какать|tr=kakatʹ]] and [[dum|cacken]].^(de Vaan 2008) De Vaan regards it as either a nursery word or an onomatopoeia; he notes that the Germanic verbs may have been borrowed from Latin.^(de Vaan 2008) Wiktionary sets up a Proto-Indo-European root [[m|ine-pro|*kakka-]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan's first attestation is the comic poet Pomponius, who uses it intransitively and also transitively, “to void”.^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It was a vulgar word, used intransitively for “to defecate” by Pomponius, Catullus, Horace and Martial, and transitively for “to void as excrement” and “to befoul”, as Catullus' ''cacata charta'' of a worthless poem.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Wiktionary) In medieval Latin a noun ''caco'' “pillory” is recorded.^(Köbler 2010) The verb lived on in the Romance languages: [[it|cacare]], [[fr|chier]], [[es|cagar]], [[pt|cagar]] and [[ro|căca]].^(Wiktionary) English ''cack'' comes from it in the mid-15th century.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus uses it of a man and of a soiled sheet.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 65–8 BC – Horace uses it in the Satires.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * mid-15th century – English ''cack'' is recorded as a verb.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # ''(intransitive, vulgar)'' To [[m|en|defecate]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(transitive)'' To void as excrement.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(transitive)'' To befoul, soil.^(Gaffiot 2016)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[cacātor]]

+ * [[cacāturiō]]

+ * [[concacō]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|cack]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}