cuneus

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cuneus. Doublet of coin.

Noun

cuneus (plural cunei)

1. (anatomy) A portion of the occipital lobe of the human brain, involved in visual processing.
2. (architecture) One of a set of wedge-shaped divisions separated by stairways, found in the Ancient Roman theatre and in mediaeval architecture.

Translations

portion of the occipital lobe

• Spanish: cuña (es) f

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Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *h₂ḱū (“sting”) (which also gave culex (“mosquito”)), extended from *h₂eḱ- (“sharp”) (compare catus (“sharp”), acutus (“sharp”), cos (“whetstone”), Ancient Greek κῶνος (kônos, “cone”))

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈku.ne.us/, [ˈkʊ.ne.ʊs]

Noun

cuneus m (genitive cuneī); second declension

1. wedge, wedge shape

Inflection

Second declension.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	cuneus	cuneī
Genitive	cuneī	cuneōrum
Dative	cuneō	cuneīs
Accusative	cuneum	cuneōs
Ablative	cuneō	cuneīs
Vocative	cunee	cuneī

Derived terms

• cuneifōrmis
• cuneō
• cuneātim

Descendants

• Eastern Romance:
  • Aromanian: cunj, cunjiu
  • Romanian: cui
• Italian: conio
• Old French: coin, coigne
  • French: coin
  • → Irish: cúinne
  • → Middle English: coyn, coign, coigne, coyne, coygne, kuyne, koyne, coin, cune, quyne
    • English: coin, quoin, coign
      • → Japanese: コイン (koin)
    • Scots: cuinyie, cunzie
  • → Scottish Gaelic: cùinn
• Old Occitan:
  • Catalan: cuny
  • Occitan: cunh, conh
• Old Portuguese:
  • Portuguese: cunho
• Old Spanish:
  • Spanish: cuño
• Rhaeto-Romance:
  • Ladin: cogn
• Venetian: cogn
• → Albanian: kunj
• → English: cuneus
• → Italian: cuneo
• → Portuguese: cúneo
• → Welsh: cŷn
• ⇒ Vulgar Latin: *cunea
  • Old Portuguese: cunna, cuna
    • Portuguese: cunha
  • Old Spanish:
    • Spanish: cuña

See also

• cunīculus
• cunnus
• cōnus

References

• 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’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 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