ancus

See also: Ancus

Latin

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.

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

(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.

	masculine	feminine	neuter	masculine	feminine	neuter
	singular			plural
nominative	ancus	anca	ancum	ancī	ancae	anca
genitive	ancī	ancae	ancī	ancōrum	ancārum	ancōrum
dative	ancō	ancae	ancō	ancīs
accusative	ancum	ancam	ancum	ancōs	ancās	anca
ablative	ancō	ancā	ancō	ancīs
vocative	ance	anca	ancum	ancī	ancae	anca

“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.