Noricum

English

Proper noun

Noricum

1. (historical) A Celtic state and later Roman province, approximately corresponding to modern Austria.

Related terms

• Norican

Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek Νώρικον (Nṓrikon), from an unknown source predating the Celts' arrival. Said to be a Phrygian or Thracian word, but of unclear meaning.

Robert Ellis (1855) supports a relation to Phrygian νώρικον (nṓrikon, “(wine)skin”), offering the hypothesis that the place derived from the hollowness of the river-valley. For semantic parallel, he cites Welsh cwm (“valley”), which derives from Proto-Indo-European *kumbʰo-, *kumbʰéh₂- (“vessel”).

The province within the Roman Empire

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈnoː.ri.kum/, [ˈnoːrɪkʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈno.ri.kum/, [ˈnɔːrikum]

Proper noun

Nōricum n sg (genitive Nōricī); second declension

1. A Celtic state and later Roman province, approximately corresponding to modern Austria.

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter), with locative, singular only.

Case	Singular
Nominative	Nōricum
Genitive	Nōricī
Dative	Nōricō
Accusative	Nōricum
Ablative	Nōricō
Vocative	Nōricum
Locative	Nōricī

Further reading

• “Noricum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• Noricum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.