cuneus
English
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin cuneus. Doublet of coign and coin.
Noun
cuneus (plural cunei)
- (neuroanatomy) A portion of the occipital lobe of the human brain, involved in visual processing.
- (entomology) A wedge-shaped section of the forewing of certain heteropteran bugs.
- (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
|
entomology: section of forewing
|
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/, [ˈkʊneʊs̠]
- (Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈku.ne.us/, [ˈkuːneus]
Noun
cuneus m (genitive cuneī); second declension
- wedge, wedge shape
- (military) troops arrayed in a wedge formation
- (military, figuratively) an army
- (theater) a block of seats
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
- cuneolus
- cuneātim
Descendants
- Balkan Romance:
- Aromanian: cunj, cunjiu
- Romanian: cui
- Italo-Romance:
- Italian: conio
- Neapolitan: cogno
- Sicilian: cugnu
- Padanian:
- Emilian: cògn
- Ladin: cogn
- Friulian: cugn
- Ligurian: cun-gno, cun-ni, cuin
- Lombard: cugn, cugne, cuni ⇒ cugneul, chigneul, qignœl
- Ossolano: ciugn
- Piedmontese: cugn, cun-i, cuin-i
- Venetian: cogn
- Northern Gallo-Romance:
- Franco-Provençal: couen, cugno, cugne
- Old French: coin, coigne
- French: coin
- → Irish: cúinne
- → Middle English: coyn, coign, coigne, coin, coygne, coyne, cune, koyne, kuyne, quyne
- English: coin, quoin, coign
- → Japanese: コイン (koin)
- Scots: cuinyie, cunzie
- English: coin, quoin, coign
- → Scottish Gaelic: cùinn
- Southern Gallo-Romance:
- Catalan: cuny
- Occitan: cunh, conh, cuenh
- Ibero-Romance:
- Galician: cuño, cruño
- Portuguese: cunho
- Spanish: cuño
- ⇒ Vulgar Latin: *cunea
- Ibero-Romance:
- Old Portuguese: cunna, cuna
- Galician: cuña
- Portuguese: cunha
- Spanish: cuña
- Old Portuguese: cunna, cuna
- Ibero-Romance:
- Borrowings:
- → Albanian: kunj
- → English: cuneus
- → Italian: cuneo
- → Portuguese: cúneo
- → Proto-Brythonic: *kün
- Middle Welsh: kyn
- Welsh: cŷn
- Middle Welsh: kyn
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 with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
- cuneus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette
- Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book, London: Macmillan and Co.
- to draw up troops in a wedge-formation: cuneum facere (Liv. 22. 47)
- 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