caduceus

caduceus

English

A caduceus

Etymology

Via Latin cādūceus, cādūceum, adaptation of Doric Ancient Greek καρύκειον (karúkeion, “herald’s wand or staff”). This and Attic Greek κηρύκειον (kērúkeion) are derived from κῆρυξ (kêrux, “herald, public messenger”). Related to κηρύσσω (kērússō, “I announce”).

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /kəˈdu.si.əs/, /kəˈdjuː.si.əs/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

caduceus (plural caducei)

1. The official wand carried by a herald in ancient Greece and Rome, specifically the one carried in mythology by Hermes, the messenger of the gods, usually represented with two snakes twined around it.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938:

     Caduceus the rod of Mercury, / With which he wonts the Stygian realmes inuade […]

2. A symbol (☤) representing a staff with two snakes wrapped around it, used to indicate merchants and messengers. It is also sometimes incorrectly substituted for the rod of Asclepius as a symbol of medicine.
   • For quotations using this term, see Citations:caduceus.

Translations

symbol

Dutch: caduceus m French: caducée (fr) m German: Hermesstab (de) m, Caduceus m Greek: κηρύκειο (el) n (kirýkeio) Ancient: κηρύκειον (kērúkeion) Italian: caduceo (it) m Polish: kaduceusz (pl) m Portuguese: caduceu m Spanish: caduceo m Welsh: ffon sarffog f

See also

• aesculapian staff
• Rod of Asclepius

Further reading

• Wikipedia article on the Rod of Asclepius

Anagrams

• caucused

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Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /kaːˈduː.ke.us/, [käːˈd̪uːkeʊs̠]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /kaˈdu.t͡ʃe.us/, [käˈd̪uːt͡ʃeus]

Noun

cādūceus m (genitive cādūceī); second declension

1. Alternative form of cādūceum

Declension

Second-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	cādūceus	cādūceī
Genitive	cādūceī	cādūceōrum
Dative	cādūceō	cādūceīs
Accusative	cādūceum	cādūceōs
Ablative	cādūceō	cādūceīs
Vocative	cādūcee	cādūceī

References

• “caduceus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “caduceus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “caduceus”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin