corvus

See also: Corvus

English

Etymology

From Latin corvus (“crow”), named for the resemblance to a crow's beak.

Noun

corvus (plural corvuses or corvi)

1. (historical) A hooked ram for destroying walls.
2. (historical) A grappling hook in Ancient Roman naval warfare.

   Synonym: harpago

Latin

corvus (a raven)

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *korwos, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱorh₂wós, from a root *ḱorh₂- (“crow, raven”), imitative of harsh sounds; see cornīx (“crow”) for more. The word has been decomposed as from *ḱer- (compare Latin crepō (“to creak, crack”), Sanskrit कृपते (kṛ́pate, “he laments, implores”)) + *-wós (whence Latin -vus).

This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term. Particularly: “Sense “gangplank”: due to the front being pointed and resembling a beak?”

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈkɔr.wʊs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈkɔr.vus]

Noun

corvus m (genitive corvī); second declension

1. A raven; a bird associated with prophecy and sacred to Apollo.
2. (nautical) A gangplank, used in Roman naval combat for boarding enemy ships.
3. (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?) A battering ram.

   Synonym: grūs

Declension

Second-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	corvus	corvī
genitive	corvī	corvōrum
dative	corvō	corvīs
accusative	corvum	corvōs
ablative	corvō	corvīs
vocative	corve	corvī

Coordinate terms

• (nautical): harpagō, harpax

Derived terms

• corvīnus
• Corvus
• in cruce corvōs pāscere

Descendants

• Emilian: côrv
• Balkan Romance:
  • → Albanian: korb
  • Aromanian: corbu
  • Istro-Romanian: corb
  • Megleno-Romanian: corb, cuărb
  • Romanian: corb
• Italo-Romance:
  • Italian: corvo
  • Sicilian: corvu, corbu
  • Venetan: corvo, corf
• Sardinian:
  • Sardinian: colbu, crobu, colvu, corbu, corvu
• Rhaeto-Romance:
  • ⇒ Friulian: corvat
  • Ladin: corf
  • Romansh: corv
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Catalan: corb
  • Old French: corf, corb, corp, crop
  • Old Occitan:
    • Occitan: còrb
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Asturian: cuervu, cuorvu, cuirvu
  • Old Galician-Portuguese: corvo
    • Fala: colvu, corvu
    • Galician: corvo
    • Portuguese: corvo
  • Old Spanish: cuervo
    • Spanish: cuervo
• ⇒ Late Latin: corbellus, corvellus
  • Old French: corbel
    • Middle French: corbeau m
      • French: corbeau m
        • Mauritian Creole: korbo
        • → English: corbeau
      • → English: corbie
      • → Scots: corbie
    • → Middle English: corbel
      • English: corbel

Borrowings

• → Esperanto: korvo
• → English: corvus (learned)
• → Translingual: Corvus

See also

• Corvus (boarding device) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Further reading

• “corvus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “corvus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “corvus”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “corvus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “corvus”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray
• “corvus”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin