colus

Latin

Etymology 1

Of uncertain origin, though possibly related to colō (“to till, cultivate”); attempts have been made to connect it to colubra (“female serpent”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈkɔ.ɫʊs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈkɔː.lus]

Noun

colus f (genitive colī or colūs); variously declined, second declension, fourth declension

1. distaff: a tool used in spinning fiber, such as wool
   • 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 3.817–818:

     Pallade plācāta lānam mollīre puellae
     discant et plēnās exonerāre colōs.

     Once Pallas's favor has been won: Let the girls learn [how] to soften wool,
     and [how] to unload their full distaffs.
     (‘‘Pallas’’ was an epithet for the patron of handicraft, the Greek goddess Athena, syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. See distaff and spinning.)

2. spinning, spun thread

Declension

Second-declension noun or fourth-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	colus	colī colūs
genitive	colī colūs	colōrum coluum
dative	colō coluī	colīs colibus
accusative	colum	colōs colūs
ablative	colō colū	colīs colibus
vocative	cole colus	colī colūs

Etymology 2

Alternative form of cōlon (“the colon”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈkoː.ɫʊs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈkɔː.lus]

Noun

cōlus m (genitive cōlī); second declension

1. Alternative form of cōlon

Declension

Second-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	cōlus	cōlī
genitive	cōlī	cōlōrum
dative	cōlō	cōlīs
accusative	cōlum	cōlōs
ablative	cōlō	cōlīs
vocative	cōle	cōlī

Further reading

• “colus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “colus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "colus", 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)
• colus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “colus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “colus”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin