circus
See also: Circus
English edit
Etymology edit
Borrowed from Latin circus (“ring, circle”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker-, *ker- (“to turn, to bend”).[1][2] Doublet of cirque. Displaced native Old English hringsetl (literally “ring seat”).
Pronunciation edit
Audio (US) (file) - (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈsɜːkəs/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈsɝkəs/
- Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)kəs
Noun edit
circus (plural circuses or (rare) circusses or (rare) circi)
- A traveling company of performers that may include acrobats, clowns, trained animals, and other novelty acts, that gives shows usually in a circular tent. [from late 18th c.]
- The circus will be in town next week.
- A round open space in a town or city where multiple streets meet.
- Oxford Circus in London is at the north end of Regent Street.
- (figurative) A spectacle; a noisy fuss; a chaotic and/or crowded place.
- 2009, Christine Brooks, A Quiet Village, page 81:
- The village would be turned into a circus over this. He groaned, it was just the sort of case the media had a field day over. He had to get the whole thing sorted fast before anyone got wind of it.
- (historical) In the ancient Roman Empire, a building for chariot racing.
- (military, World War II) A code name for bomber attacks with fighter escorts in the day time. The attacks were against short-range targets with the intention of occupying enemy fighters and keeping their fighter units in the area concerned.
- (obsolete) Circuit; space; enclosure.
- 1817, Lord Byron, The Lament of Tasso:
- The narrow circus of my dungeon wall.
Coordinate terms edit
- (open space): concourse
Derived terms edit
Related terms edit
Translations edit
company that travels
|
round open space
Verb edit
circus (third-person singular simple present circuses or circusses, present participle circusing or circussing, simple past and past participle circused or circussed)
References edit
Anagrams edit
Dutch edit
Etymology edit
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
circus n (plural circussen, diminutive circusje n)
- circus (company of performers; place where this company performs)
Derived terms edit
Descendants edit
See also edit
Latin edit
Etymology edit
Likely borrowed from Ancient Greek κρίκος (kríkos), κίρκος (kírkos, “ring”),[1] from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to turn, bend”).
Pronunciation edit
- (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈkir.kus/, [ˈkɪrkʊs̠]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈt͡ʃir.kus/, [ˈt͡ʃirkus]
Noun edit
circus m (genitive circī); second declension
- a circular line or orbit; circle, ring
- a racecourse or space where games are held, especially one that is round
- the spectators in a circus; a circus
Declension edit
Second-declension noun.
Case | Singular | Plural |
---|---|---|
Nominative | circus | circī |
Genitive | circī | circōrum |
Dative | circō | circīs |
Accusative | circum | circōs |
Ablative | circō | circīs |
Vocative | circe | circī |
Derived terms edit
Descendants edit
Learned borrowings:
- Asturian: circu
- Catalan: circ
- Dutch: circus (see there for further descendants)
- English: circus
- French: cirque (see there for further descendants)
- Friulian: circ
- Galician: circo
- German: Circus, Zirkus (see there for further descendants)
- Italian: circo
- Occitan: circ
- Polish: cyrk
- Portuguese: circo
- Romanian: circ
- Spanish: circo
References edit
- Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002), “cĭrcus”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), volume 2: C Q K, page 708
- ^ De Vaan, Michiel (2008), “circus”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 115
Further reading edit
- “circus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “circus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- circus 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)
- “circus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
- “circus”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin