noctu

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *noktowe, from Proto-Indo-European *nokʷt-ew (“by night”). Cognate with Proto-Tocharian *nekʷtu- (“by night”) and Sanskrit अक्तु (aktú, “by night”). The noun form is either from *noctūd/*noktou, ablative and locative singular of *noktus or rebracketed from the adverb; compare Sanskrit अक्तु (aktú, “night”) and अक्तु (aktú, “by night”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈnɔk.tuː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈnɔk.tu]

Adverb

noctū (not comparable)

1. by night, at night

   Synonyms: nocte, dē nocte, nox

   Antonyms: interdiū, diū

   • c. 180 BCE, Plautus, Casina 4.4.6:

     Noctuque et diu ut viro subdola sis,
     opsecro memento.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • c. 52 BCE, Julius Caesar, Commentarii de bello Gallico 1.8:

     non numquam interdiu, saepius noctu si perrumpere possent conati, operis munitione et militum concursu et telis repulsi, hoc conatu destiterunt.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • c. 117 CE, Tacitus, Annales 15.12:

     […] commune alacres […] continuum diu noctuque iter properabant.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Related terms

• noctua
• noctuābundus
• noctuīnus
• nox

Noun

noctū f or m

1. (Old Latin) alternative form of nocte, ablative singular of nox
   • 239 BCE – 169 BCE, Ennius, apud Macrobius, Saturnalia 1.4.17:

     Qua Galli furtim noctu summa arcis adorti
     Moenia concubia, vigilesque repente cruentant.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • c. 206 BCE, Plautus, Miles Gloriosus 2.4.28:

     Ecastor ergo
     mi hau falsum evenit somnium, quod noctu hac somniavi.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • c. 190 BCE – 185 BCE, Plautus, Amphitruo 1.1.116:

     Certe edepol, si quicquamst aliud quod credam aut certo sciam,
     credo ego hac noctu Nocturnum obdormivisse ebrium.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 234 BCE – 149 BCE, Marcus Porcius Cato, De agri cultura 156.3:

     Postea ponito pocillum in sereno noctu.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • Quintus Claudius Quadrigarius, Annales apud Macrobius, Saturnalia 1.4.19:

     Senatus autem de nocte convenire, noctu multa domum dimitti.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

References

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