nucleus Latin · revision 7443

16 Oct 2026, 13:52 by bogdan “New Latin entry (sources: de Vaan, OLD, Lewis & Short, TLL...)” current version
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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=Plautus|origins=la nux}}
+ 
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈnʊ.kɫe.ʊs], [ˈnʊk.ɫe.ʊs]^(Wiktionary)
+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈnuː.kle.us], [ˈnuk.le.us]^(Wiktionary)
+ 
+ ==Forms==
+ '''nucleus''' ''m'' (genitive nucleī); second declension^(Wiktionary)
+ 
+ ==Etymology==
+ It is a diminutive of [[nux]] “nut” with the suffix ⟨-leus⟩, with an irregular change from feminine to masculine.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Plautus, Cato and Varro have the fuller form ⟨nuculeus⟩.^(OLD 2012)
+ 
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ The OLD's earliest citation is from Plautus, with the form ''nuculeus''.^(OLD 2012) Plautus' proverb runs ''quī ē nuce nuculeum ēsse vult, frangit nucem'' “he who wants to eat the kernel cracks the nut”.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(OLD 2012) Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^(Köbler 2010)
+ 
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ It meant the kernel of a nut, or the nut itself, and in Varro ''nucleus pīneus'' a pine nut.^(OLD 2012) From Cato it meant the hard stone or pip in a fleshy fruit.^(OLD 2012) Pliny uses it of a hard rounded nodule, and of the central part of anything, especially the hard layer under the surface of a pavement, and Pliny's ''nucleus amygdalae'' is an almond kernel.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)
+ 
+ In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant a kernel.^(Stelten 1995) It survives in Italian ''nocciolo''.^(Wiktionary) [[en|nucleus]] is recorded in 1704 as “kernel of a nut”, and in 1708 of the head of a comet.^(Etymonline)
+ 
+ ==Timeline==
+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses ''nuculeus''.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of a fruit stone.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny uses it of a nodule and of a central layer.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 1704 – English ''nucleus'' is recorded.^(Etymonline)
+ 
+ ==Meanings==
+ ===Noun===
+ # A [[m|en|kernel]]; a nut, ''nucleus pīneus'', a pine nut.^(OLD 2012)
+ # A stone, pip.^(OLD 2012)
+ # A hard nodule.^(OLD 2012)
+ # The central part; the inner layer of a pavement.^(OLD 2012)
+ 
+ ==Word family==
+ * [[nucleō]]
+ * [[nucleolus]]
+ * [[nucleāris]]
+ * [[nucleātus]]
+ 
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[nux]]
+ * [[en|nucleus]]
+ * [[en|nuclear]]
+ 
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}