ancus

See also: Ancus

Latin

Etymology

Uncertain; possibly from angō (“to draw together, to strangle”). It could also be from Proto-Indo-European *h₂énkos (“curve”), but this is a neuter s-stem noun (like e.g. genus), a formation unknown to adjectives. If from Proto-Indo-European *h₂énkos (“curve”), it would possibly be cognate with Latin angulus (“angle”) and hence English angle.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈan.kus/, [ˈäŋkʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈan.kus/, [ˈäŋkus]

Adjective

ancus (feminine anca, neuter ancum); first/second-declension adjective

1. (hapax, possibly) bent or bound
   • 1839 [8th century CE], Paulus Diaconus, edited by Karl Otfried Müller, Excerpta ex libris Pompeii Festi De significatione verborum, page 19:

     Ancus appellatur, qui aduncum brachium habet, et exporrigi non potest.

     That which has a crooked arm and cannot be extended is called ancus.

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

Number	Singular				Plural
Case / Gender	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter		Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	ancus	anca	ancum		ancī	ancae	anca
Genitive	ancī	ancae	ancī		ancōrum	ancārum	ancōrum
Dative	ancō		ancō		ancīs
Accusative	ancum	ancam	ancum		ancōs	ancās	anca
Ablative	ancō	ancā	ancō		ancīs
Vocative	ance	anca	ancum		ancī	ancae	anca

References

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