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. (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.

Translations

portion of the occipital lobe

• Spanish: cuña (es) f

entomology: section of forewing

• Finnish: kuneus

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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]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈku.ne.us/, [ˈkuː.nɛ.us]

Noun

cuneus m (genitive cuneī); second declension

1. wedge, wedge shape
2. (military) troops arrayed in a wedge formation
3. (military, figuratively) an army

Declension

Second-declension noun.

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