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cuneus

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English

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The cuneus
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Etymology

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Learned borrowing from Latin cuneus. Doublet of coign and coin.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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cuneus (plural cunei)

  1. (neuroanatomy) A portion of the occipital lobe of the human brain, involved in visual processing.
  2. (entomology) A wedge-shaped section of the forewing of certain heteropteran bugs.
  3. (architecture) One of a set of wedge-shaped divisions separated by stairways, found in the Ancient Roman theatre and in mediaeval architecture.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Latin

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Etymology

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Uncertain root, apparently with the suffix -eus. Various problematic comparisons to either Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱ- (“sharp”) or *ḱúH- (“spike; sting”) (compare Latin culex (“mosquito”), Avestan 𐬯𐬏𐬐𐬁 (sūkā, “needle”), Sanskrit शूक (śūka, “spike; bristle; insect sting”), शूल॑ (śū́la, “spear; stake”) etc.) have been unfruitful; a long vowel (*cūneus) would be expected in the latter case, and the morphology of the -n-eus suffix remains opaque. One possibility is that cuneus is a borrowing from Ancient Greek γώνιος (gṓnios, “corner; angle”) via an Etruscan intermediate which could explain the devoicing, though De Vaan finds this unconvincing.[1] Compare cunnus (“vagina”, derogatory), also of uncertain origin, as well as cutis (“skin”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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cuneus m (genitive cuneī); second declension

  1. wedge
  2. (military):
    1. troops arrayed in a wedge formation
    2. (transferred sense) a phalanx (formation)
  3. (theater) a block of seats

Declension

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Second-declension noun.

singular plural
nominative cuneus cuneī
genitive cuneī cuneōrum
dative cuneō cuneīs
accusative cuneum cuneōs
ablative cuneō cuneīs
vocative cunee cuneī

Derived terms

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Descendants

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ De Vaan, Michiel (2008), “cuneus”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 154
  • “cuneus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • “cuneus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • "cuneus", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
  • “cuneus”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
  • Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
    • to draw up troops in a wedge-formation: cuneum facere (Liv. 22. 47)
  • “cuneus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • “cuneus”, in William Smith, editor (1854, 1857), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, volume 1 & 2, London: Walton and Maberly
  • “cuneus”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin
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