cautes

Latin

Alternative forms

Etymology

Likely a hypercorrection of cōtēs, the plural of cōs (“whetstone, sharpening stone”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱeh₃- (“to sharpen”), so originally meaning “sharp points, promontories”.[1] See plaudō~plōdō for another possible example of the same hypercorrection. Cognates include Latin catus (“clever, cunning”), cōs (“whetstone”), cuneus (“wedge”) and Ancient Greek κῶνος (kônos, “cone”).

A different suggestion relates it to English heap and Tocharian B kauc (“up, high”), from an irregular-shaped root, as well as with English high, a connection rejected by modern etymologists. The three different stop consonants t~p~k under this suggestion likewise remain unexplained.[2]

Noun

cautēs f (genitive cautis); third declension

  1. A rough, pointed rock

Declension

Third-declension noun (i-stem).

Case Singular Plural
Nominative cautēs cautēs
Genitive cautis cautium
Dative cautī cautibus
Accusative cautem cautēs
cautīs
Ablative caute cautibus
Vocative cautēs cautēs

References
  1. De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “cōs”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 139
  2. Pisani, Vittore (1954) “Lat. cautēs, toch. B kauc A koc”, in Zeitschrift für vergleichende Sprachforschung auf dem Gebiete der Indogermanischen Sprachen (in German), volume 72. 1./2., →DOI, pages 95–97

Further reading
  • “cautēs”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • “cautes”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • cautes in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.