spadix

See also: Spadix

English

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spadix

Wikipedia

Etymology

Via Latin spādīx from Ancient Greek σπᾱ́δῑξ (spā́dīx, “palm branch”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈspeɪdɪks/
Rhymes: -eɪdɪks

Noun

spadix (plural spadixes or spadices)

(botany) A fleshy spike (inflorescence) with reduced flowers, usually enclosed by a spathe, characteristic of aroids.
- 1789, Erasmus Darwin, The Loves of the Plants, J. Johnson, page 148:
  The spadix of this plant is frequently quite white, or coloured, and the leaves liable to be streaked with white, and to have black, or scarlet blotches on them.
(zoology) A male sexual organ of certain cephalopods and hydrozoans (especially the nautilus), used to transfer sperm.
- 2017, Danna Staaf, Squid Empire, ForeEdge, →ISBN, page 57:
  However, the shells of modern nautiluses show the opposite pattern—males are somewhat larger than females, with a wider aperture to accommodate the spadix.

Derived terms

spadiceous

Translations

fleshy spike

Bulgarian: спадикс m (spadiks)
Catalan: espàdix m
Czech: palice (cs) f
Danish: kolbe c
Esperanto: spadiko
Finnish: puikelo (fi)
German: Kolben (de) m
Ido: spadico (io)
Polish: kolba (pl) f
Romanian: spadice (ro) n, spadix (ro) n
Russian: початок (ru) (počatok)
Spanish: espádice (es) m
Swedish: kolv (sv) c
Tagalog: balutbulak
Turkish: spadiks, koçan (tr)

Latin

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek σπᾱ́δῑξ (spā́dīx).

Pronunciation

(Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈspaː.diːks]
(modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈspaː.diks]

Noun

spādīx m (genitive spādīcis); third declension

spadix, inflorescence (especially of a palm tree)
a type of lyre

Declension

Third-declension noun (Greek-type, normal variant).

	singular	plural
nominative	spādīx	spādīces
genitive	spādīcis	spādīcum
dative	spādīcī	spādīcibus
accusative	spādīca	spādīcas
ablative	spādīce	spādīcibus
vocative	spādīx	spādīces

Adjective

spādīx (genitive spādīcis); third-declension one-termination adjective

red like dates on a branch, spadiceous

Usage notes

All Roman commentaries on this color term are connected to the explication of a passage of Vergil about horses.
Marcus Fronto, as told by Aulus Gellius, explained the color as being proper to dates on a palm branch before they are fully "cooked" by the sun, and gave pūniceus and rutilus as synonyms of it, and also added that the color is shining and rich.
Later commentaries on the color term in Vergil fix it as a brownish color that horses may have, explicitly different from pūniceus by a change of degree. It may be speculated that something of the poetic license was lost in these didactic commentaries.

Declension

The declension type may not be established from evidence. It may have been Greek-type as used by Vergil. In that case the attested nominative plural would have been spādīces instead of spādīcēs. The table below follows a small version of this assumption.

Third-declension Greek-type one-termination adjective (non-i-stem)

	masc./fem.	neuter	masc./fem.	neuter
	singular		plural
nominative	spādīx		spādīces	spādīca
genitive	spādīcis		spādīcum
dative	spādīcī		spādīcibus
accusative	spādīca	spādīx	spādīcas	spādīca
ablative	spādīce		spādīcibus
vocative	spādīx		spādīces	spādīca

References

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

Romanian

Noun

spadix n (plural spadice)

alternative form of spadice

Declension

	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
	singular		plural
nominative-accusative	spadix	spadixul	spadice	spadicele
genitive-dative	spadix	spadixului	spadice	spadicelor
vocative	spadixule		spadicelor

albus, candidus, cānus, marmoreus (poetic), eburneus (poetic), niveus (poetic), argenteus (poetic), lacteus (poetic)	rāvus, pullus, mūrīnus (of livestock)	niger, āter, furvus, fuscus ("swarthy"), piceus (poetic)
ruber, russus, rūbidus (dark), flammeus (poetic); rutilus, pūniceus, spādīx (poetic), sanguineus (poetic)	rūfus, rutilus, rōbus (of oxen), croceus (poetic), aureus (poetic); fulvus (poetic), niger (of eyes), badius (of horses)	lūteus, flāvus ("blond"), lūridus, gilvus (of horses), helvus (of cattle); cēreus (poetic)
viridis, flāvus (poetic)	viridis, herbeus (of eyes), fulvus (poetic)	viridis, glaucus (poetic), caeruleus (poetic, only dark)
	glaucus (poetic), caeruleus, caesius (of eyes)	caeruleus, līvidus, ferrūgineus (poetic), glaucus (poetic)
violāceus	purpureus (underlying shade)	roseus