nox Latin · revision 774

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈnɔks]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈnɔks]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''nox''' ''f'' (genitive noctis); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|itc-pro|*nok⁽ʷ⁾ts]], [[inh|ine-pro|*nókʷts|t=night]].^(Wiktionary) De Vaan reconstructs a PIE root noun [[m|ine-pro|*nógʷʰ-t-s]], from a root whose verbal forms survive only in Anatolian, as in [[hit|nekuzi|t=to become night]].^(de Vaan 2008) It is cognate with [[sa|नक्त्|tr=nákt-]], [[grc|νύξ|tr=núx]], [[lt|naktìs]], [[cu|нощь|tr=noštь]] and [[got|𐌽𐌰𐌷𐍄𐍃|tr=nahts]], all "night", and with [[sga|innocht|t=tonight]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(Pokorny 1959) [[en|night]] belongs here through [[ang|niht]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ The Old Latin adverb nox "by night" is usually taken as an old genitive, while Pinault explains it instead from an old locative.^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012)

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+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The adverb ''nox'' "by night" appears in the Twelve Tables (c. 450 BC),^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) and the noun from Naevius (c. 235–200 BC) onwards.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) In Plautus a slave walking alone in the dark asks who would be out "at this time of night" (''hoc noctis'').^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From the time between sunset and sunrise it came to mean nightfall, a particular night counted as a unit of time, and a night spent in a certain way, including a night of love.^(OLD 2012) Personified, Nox was a goddess, sister of Erebus and by him mother of Aether and Day.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Gellius named his miscellany ''Noctēs Atticae'' after the winter nights in Attica when he compiled it.^(OLD 2012)

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+ Poets used the endless night for death: Catullus reminds Lesbia that "once our brief light has set, we must sleep one never-ending night".^(OLD 2012) It also meant darkness of any kind, the gloom of a storm or of the Underworld, and figuratively concealment, obscurity and confusion: Cicero speaks of the "storm and night" of the state.^(OLD 2012) The night that covers the eyes could stand for fainting or blindness.^(OLD 2012) Medieval Latin kept the old reckoning by nights in phrases such as ''tot noctēs'', meaning "so many days".^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 450 BC – The Twelve Tables use the adverb ''nox'' "by night".^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)

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

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus speaks of telling one's woes to Night, the Sun and the Moon.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus uses ''nox perpetua'' for death.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil uses ''aeterna nox'' of death in the ''Aeneid''.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 165 AD – Aulus Gellius titles his work ''Noctēs Atticae''.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|night]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(personified)'' Night, the goddess Nox.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # A particular night, as a measure or point of time.^(OLD 2012)

+ # A night spent in a certain way; a night of love.^(OLD 2012)

+ # [[m|en|darkness]], [[m|en|gloom]]; the darkness of the [[m|en|underworld]].^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(poetic)'' [[m|en|death]].^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(figurative)'' [[m|en|concealment]], obscurity, confusion.^(OLD 2012)

+ # [[m|en|blindness]]; loss of consciousness.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' In ''tot noctēs'': so many days.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ===Adverb===

+ # ''(Old Latin)'' By night.^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[abnoctō]]

+ * [[binoctium]]

+ * [[noctēscō]]

+ * [[nocticola]]

+ * [[nocticolor]]

+ * [[noctifer]]

+ * [[noctilūca]]

+ * [[noctipuga]]

+ * [[noctisurgium]]

+ * [[noctivagus]]

+ * [[noctividus]]

+ * [[noctū]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[noctua]]

+ * [[noctuābundus]]

+ * [[noctuīnus]]

+ * [[noctulūcus]]

+ * [[nocturnus]]

+ * [[noctuvigilus]]

+ * [[en|night]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ "By night" is usually ''nocte'' or ''noctū'', also ''dē nocte'', and ''diēs noctēsque'' or ''noctēs et diēs'' means "night and day, continually".^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) ''Multā nocte'' is "late at night" and ''mediā nocte'' "at midnight".^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

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+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}