encaustum

Latin

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ἔγκαυστον (énkauston), from ἐν- (en-, “in”) + καυστός (kaustós, “burnt”), from καίω (kaíō, “I burn”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /enˈkau̯s.tum/, [ɛŋˈkäu̯s̠t̪ʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /enˈkau̯s.tum/, [eŋˈkäu̯st̪um]

Noun

encaustum n (genitive encaustī); second declension

1. the purple-red ink used by the later Roman emperors

   Near-synonym: ātrāmentum

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	encaustum	encausta
Genitive	encaustī	encaustōrum
Dative	encaustō	encaustīs
Accusative	encaustum	encausta
Ablative	encaustō	encaustīs
Vocative	encaustum	encausta

Related terms

• encaustus

Descendants

Descendants

• Corsican: inchjostru
• Dalmatian: inghiastro
• Dutch: inkt
• Old French: enque
  • Middle French: ancre
    • French: encre
    • Norman: encre
    • Walloon: intche
  • → Middle English: ynke, ynk, hynke, enke, henk
    • English: ink, inke
      • → Japanese: インク (inku)
      • → Telugu: ఇంకి (iṅki)
      • → Welsh: inc
    • Scots: ink
  • → Sicilian: inca (obsolete)
    • → Maltese: linka
• Neapolitan: gnostro
• Friulian: inğhustri
• Italian: inchiostro, encausto, incausto
• Sicilian: inca
  • Maltese: linka
• Sicilian: nchiostru
• Spanish: encausto
  • 　⇒ Spanish: encáustica

References

• “encaustum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “encaustum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• encaustum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “encaustum”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.