custos

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin custōs.

Noun

custos (plural custodes)

  1. (obsolete) A warden.
    • c. 1530, John Rastell, The Pastyme of People: The Cronycles of Dyuers Realmys‎, London:
      […] they were commytted to prison & put out of theyr offyces & the Constable of the Towre made custos of the citye.
    • 1803, Robert Charles Dallas, The History of the Maroons‎, London: Longman and Rees, Volume 1, Letter 5, p. 148:
      Mr. Tharp, the Custos of the parish, and several other gentlement, accompanied the corps.
  2. (Roman Catholicism) A monastic superior, who, under the general of his order, has the direction of all the religious houses of the same fraternity in a given district, called a custody of the order.
  3. (music, historical) In older forms of musical notation, an indication, at the end of a line of music, of the first note of the next line.

Derived terms

Translations

Anagrams

Latin

Etymology

Of unclear ultimate origin. Per Nowicki 1978, from a compound *kusto-sd- 'who sits near the hidden/near the treasure', where the first element is cognate to Proto-Germanic *huzdą (“hidden treasure”) (also of uncertain etymology; see more at English hoard and below) and the second element is a reduced form of Proto-Indo-European *sed- (“to sit”)[1] But this etymology is disputed.

More information

One proposal derives *kusto- and *huzdą from *kudʰ-to-, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewdʰ- (“to cover, wrap, encase”), from *(s)kewH- (“to cover, hide”),[2] whence Ancient Greek κεύθω (keúthō, “to conceal”) and Old English hȳdan (“to hide, conceal, preserve”). But the derivation of Latin /st/ and Proto-Germanic *zd from PIE *dʰ-t is controversial. Some etymologists consider /st/ to be the regular outcome in Latin of PIE *dʰ-t, based on aestās and aestus; according to this view, the /ss/ found in participle forms such as iussus and fossus was introduced by analogy with forms built on stems ending in other dental consonants.[3] But Michiel de Vaan argues that it is better to analyze /ss/ as the regular outcome of *dʰ-t, and the /st/ of aestās and aestus as an analogical reformation.[4] Thus, De Vaan considers the /st/ in custos unexplained and the etymology unknown.

Oswald Szemerényi (1952/3 [1987]) alternatively derives the /st/ here[5] and the *zd in Proto-Germanic *huzdą from PIE *sdʰ, tracing both back to a Proto-Indo-European *k(e)wsdʰo- (“palace, treasure house, treasure”).[6] This etymology is accepted by Ringe 2006 who mentions Ancient Greek κύσθος (kústhos, “vulva”) as another cognate.[7] However, Lubotsky 2004 finds this unconvincing and considers the regular outcome of *sdʰ in Latin to be a long vowel + /d/.

Pronunciation

Noun

custōs m (genitive custōdis); third declension

  1. A guard, protector, watchman
    Synonym: appāritor
  2. A guardian, tutor
  3. A jailer
  4. A keeper, custodian
    Synonyms: dēfēnsor, vindex, praeses, appāritor

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Case Singular Plural
Nominative custōs custōdēs
Genitive custōdis custōdum
Dative custōdī custōdibus
Accusative custōdem custōdēs
Ablative custōde custōdibus
Vocative custōs custōdēs

Derived terms

Descendants
  • Late Latin: custor (see there for further descendants)
  • → English: custos
  • → Finnish: kustos
  • → German: Kustos
  • → Italian: custode
  • → Old French: custode

References
  1. De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “custōs, -ōdis”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 159
  2. “custody”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.
  3. Stuart-Smith, Jane (2004) Phonetics and Phonology: Sound Change in Italic (Oxford University Press), page 43; citing Leumann 1977: 168, Meiser 1998: 124
  4. De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “aestās”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 28
  5. Stuart-Smith, Jane (2004) Phonetics and Phonology: Sound Change in Italic (Oxford University Press), page 27; citing Szemerényi, O. J. (1952/3 [1987]), 'The development of the Indo-European Mediae Aspiratae in Latin and Italic', Archivum Linguisticum, 4: 27-53; 99-116 and 5: 1-21＝Scripta Minora, vol. 2. 628-93.
  6. Lubotsky, Alexander. (2004). "Avestan siiazd-, Sanskrit sedh-, Latin cedere." Per aspera ad asteriscos: Studia Indogermanica in honorem Jens Elmegard Rasmussen sexagenarii Idibus Martiis anno MMIV, 322 - 332 (2004).
  7. Ringe, Don (2006) From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic, Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 95

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

Portuguese

Noun

custos

  1. plural of custo
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