Talk:idus

Latin etymology

In the entry it was "Most likely from Etruscan." with "The New Hampshire Latin grammar [...]" as reference. The reference did not mention the author, the year of publication and a page number. So I searched for it, and found this:

John Smith, The New Hampshire Latin grammar: comprehending all the necessary rules in orthography, etymology, syntax, and prosody; with explanatory and critical notes, and an appendix, Boston, 1802, p. 119: "We may derive idus from iduare, an obsolete word signifying to divide."

Problems with this:

• This doesn't mention Etruscian, and looks like iduare could be an old Latin word.
• may sounds like it could be some kind of folk etymology.
• The book is older, so it could be outdated.

So I also looked for other sources.

• ides states: "idus, possibly from Latin iduare ‎(“to divide”)"
• Georges dictionary has: "īduo, āre, nach Macr. sat. 1, 15. § 17 ein etruskisches Wort, das Makrobius mit dividere zusammenbringt."
• L&S states: "Īdus [..] acc. to Macr. S. 1, 15, from the Etrusc. ‡ iduo, to divide; hence, qs. the divided or half month; but prob. Sanscr. root, indh-, idh-, to kindle, lighten", and "īdŭo, āre, acc. to Macr. S. 1, 15, § 17, an Etrusc. word, i. q. dividere".
• Adelung states in another context (Witwe): "dividere, theilen, bey den alten Hetrusciern iduare".

-Ikiaika (talk) 13:27, 11 May 2016 (UTC)