naucum Latin · revision 6115

+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|attested=Naevius}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈnau̯.kũː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈnaːu̯.kum]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''naucum''' ''n'' (genitive naucī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ Its origin is unclear.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010) Strunk revives the ancient connection with [[nux]] “nut”, as if it first meant a nutshell, which de Vaan finds semantically attractive, though the /au/ is unexplained.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) The TLL derives it from ''nux'' by an unusual vowel change, perhaps through an Oscan pronunciation.^(TLL) Festus reports that the ancients explained it as trifles, the inside of an olive stone, the husk of anything, the hilum of a bean, or the partition of a walnut.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan dates it from Naevius.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) Köbler dates Naevius c. 235–200 BC.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It meant a thing of trifling value, and was used almost only in the genitive with a negative, ''nōn naucī'' “worthless”, as Plautus' ''homō nōn naucī'' and Ennius' trifler worth nothing.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Cicero has ''nōn habēre naucī'' “to think worthless”.^(Gaffiot 2016)

+

+ In Medieval Latin a ''homō naucī'' was a worthless person, and the word was also used of the part of a fruit enveloping the kernel.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 235–200 BC – Naevius uses it.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses ''nōn naucī''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of thinking someone worthless.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|trifle]], ''nōn naucī'', worthless.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' The husk around a kernel.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[nux]]

+ * [[nūgae]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}