acus

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈa.kus/, [ˈäkʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈa.kus/, [ˈäːkus]

Etymology 1

(deprecated template usage)

From Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱ- (“sharp”). Related to acuō (“sharpen, whet”) and aciēs (“edge”).

Noun

acus f (genitive acūs); fourth declension

1. a needle, a pin
2. bodkin

Declension

Fourth-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	acus	acūs
Genitive	acūs	acuum
Dative	acuī	acibus
Accusative	acum	acūs
Ablative	acū	acibus
Vocative	acus	acūs

Derived terms

• acia
• acū pingō (“I embroider”)
• acuārius
• acucula
• acula
• aculeus
• acuō
• aquifolium
• foramen acūs (“the eye of a needle”)
• rem acū tetigistī, acū tetigistī

 

Descendants

• Aromanian: ac
• Dalmatian: juac
• English: acupuncture
• Istriot: ago
• Italian: ago

• Neapolitan: aco
• Romanian: ac
• Sardinian: àcu
• Vulgar Latin: *acūcla (see there for further descendants)

Etymology 2

From Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱ- (“sharp”), cognates including agna (“ear”) and Proto-Germanic *ahaz (“ear”), Proto-Germanic *aganō, *ahanō (“chaff”) (> English awn), Ancient Greek ἄχυρον (ákhuron), Greek άχυρο (áchyro, “hay”).

Noun

acus n (genitive aceris); third declension

1. bran

   Synonym: āplūda

Declension

Third-declension noun (neuter, imparisyllabic non-i-stem).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	acus	acera
Genitive	aceris	acerum
Dative	acerī	aceribus
Accusative	acus	acera
Ablative	acere	aceribus
Vocative	acus	acera

Derived terms

• acerātus
• acerōsus

References

• Ernout, Alfred, Meillet, Antoine (1985) “acus”, in Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue latine: histoire des mots‎^[1] (in French), 4th edition, with additions and corrections of Jacques André, Paris: Klincksieck, published 2001, page 7
• “acus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “acus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• acus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• acus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[2], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • you have hit the nail on the head: rem acu tetigisti
    
• “acus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “acus”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin