faux Latin · revision 9340

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

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The origin is unknown.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) The OLD marks it doubtful.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan dates it from Plautus, who uses it of the throat, the pharynx.^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012) Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It was the upper part of the throat, and the throat as the passage of breath, the seat of the voice and the gullet; of beasts it meant the jaws, often figuratively, as when Cicero speaks of a city snatched from the jaws of war.^(OLD 2012) Celsus used it of the outside of the throat, the neck.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ From the throat it came to mean any narrow entrance or passage: the mouth of a harbour or river, as in Caesar, the entrance to a pass, the approach to a country, the porch of a building, a crater or cave mouth, the neck of a jar, a strait, an isthmus.^(OLD 2012) English borrowed [[m|en|fauces]] “throat, gullet” in the 1540s.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of the throat.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it of the mouth of a harbour.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1540s – English ''fauces'' is recorded.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The upper [[m|en|throat]], [[m|en|pharynx]]; the throat, gullet, (of beasts) the jaws.^(OLD 2012)

+ # The outside of the throat, neck.^(OLD 2012)

+ # A narrow entrance: the mouth of a harbour or river, the entrance of a pass, a porch, a [[m|en|crater]].^(OLD 2012)

+ # A narrow passage: a [[m|en|strait]], a defile, an [[m|en|isthmus]].^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[fōcāle]]

+ * [[fōcāneus]]

+ * [[praefōcō]]

+ * [[suffōcō]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|fauces]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The word is normally plural, ''faucēs''; the singular appears only in the ablative ''fauce'', and Varro remarks on its absence.^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}