caenum Latin · revision 6076

+ {{infobox|confidence=unknown|attested=Plautus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈkae̯.nũː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈt͡ʃɛː.num]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''caenum''' ''n'' (genitive caenī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ Its origin is unclear.^(de Vaan 2008)^(TLL) Walde and Hofmann linked it with [[cūniō]] “to defecate” and [[inquinō]] “to soil”, which would need an original o-grade *koino-, but de Vaan calls this formally impossible without speculative assumptions.^(de Vaan 2008) The same objection rules out a connection with Swedish dialect [[m|sv|hven]] and [[lv|svīnît|t=to soil oneself]], and de Vaan thinks [[obscēnus]] is probably unrelated.^(de Vaan 2008) Wiktionary, after Pokorny, gives a root [[ine-pro|*ḱweyn-|t=to soil; mud]].^(Wiktionary)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan dates it from Plautus, whose character wants to lure a young man out of the muddy filth of a brothel.^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012) Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It meant mud, filth, slime, always with a sense of loathsomeness, as Cicero's saying that all filth smells bad.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) It was used with a suggestion of moral uncleanness, figuratively of a sordid or low condition, as Livy's plebeian who was dragged from the mire to the consulship, and as a term of abuse for a person, “scum”.^(OLD 2012) Döderlein distinguishes [[lutum]], the dirt of streets, and [[līmus]], the mud of a river, from ''caenum'', the mire of a swamp or sewer.^(Döderlein 1874)

+

+ In Medieval Latin it kept the senses mud, filth and moral corruption.^(DMLBS)^(eLexicon Polonorum) It survives in Italian and Portuguese ''ceno'' and Spanish ''cieno'' “mud”.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of the filth of a brothel and as an insult.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a low origin.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 59 BC–17 AD – Livy speaks of the plebeian mire.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|Mud]], [[m|en|filth]], [[m|en|slime]].^(OLD 2012)

+ # Moral uncleanness.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(figurative)'' A sordid or ignoble condition.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(of persons)'' Scum, filth.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[caenōsus]]

+ * [[caenulentus]]

+ * [[obscēnus]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[inquinō]]

+ * [[lutum]]

+ * [[līmus]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}