corusco

See also: coruscò

Italian

Verb

corusco

1. first-person singular present indicative of coruscare

Latin

Alternative forms

• choruscō, corruscō, coriscō (post-classical, Medieval Latin)
• scoruscō (Vetus Latina)

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /koˈrus.koː/, [kɔˈrʊs̠koː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /koˈrus.ko/, [koˈrusko]

Etymology 1

Related to coruscus (“vibrating, flashing”). Of uncertain origin according to the TLL; perhaps related to Ancient Greek κορύσσω (korússō, “equip with helmet”) and κορύπτω (korúptō, “headbutt”). Compare Ancient Greek σκαίρω (skaírō, “hop, dance”), ἀσκαρίζω (askarízō, “throb”), σκιρτάω (skirtáō, “leap, bound”).

Verb

coruscō (present infinitive coruscāre, perfect active coruscāvī, supine coruscātum); first conjugation, no passive (poetic in Classical Latin, much more popular in Late Latin)

1. (transitive) to shake, brandish, wave, move about
   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 5.641–643:

     Haec memorāns prima infēnsum vī corripit ignem
     sublatāque procul dextrā cōnīxa coruscat
     et iacit.

     Mentioning these, she first grasped the deadly fire with violence
     and with the right hand raised high, brandishes it with effort
     and throws.

   • c. 45 CE – 96 CE, Statius, Thebaid 12.431–432:

     Exundant dīvīsō vertice flammae
     alternōsque apicēs abruptā lūce coruscant.

     The flames rush up with a bifurcated top
     and wave their tips with intermittent light.

   • 4th C. CE, Avienus, Aratea 636–638:

     Namque et sīdereīs cycnus secat aethera pinnīs,
     dōnātus caelō, nōn clārō lūcidus astrō,
     sed tamen ōs flagrāns et guttura longa coruscāns.

     For the swan splits the aether with starry wings too,
     gifted to the sky, not luminous with a bright star,
     but still brandishing its shining mouth and long neck.

   • 354 CE – 450 CE, Saint Augustine, Enarratio in Psalmos 121.9:

     Portāvērunt Deum, et dē ipsīs Deus coruscābat mīrācula, tonābat terrōrēs, pluēbat cōnsōlātiōnēs.

     They carried the Lord with them, and the Lord brandished miracles, thundered terrors, rained consolations regarding them.

2. (intransitive, somewhat uncommon) to shake, vibrate, flit
   • c. 99 BCE – 55 BCE, Lucretius, De rerum natura 2.320:

     […] satiātī agnī lūdunt blandēque coruscant.

     The sated lambs play and gently thrust with the horns.

   • c. 37 BCE – 30 BCE, Virgil, Georgics 4.73:

     Tum trepidae inter sē coeunt pinnīsque coruscant […]

     Then [the bees] come together in a hurry and vibrate with their wings.

   • 8 CE, Ovid, Metamorphoses 4.492–494:

     Mōtae sonuēre colubrae,
     parsque iacent umerīs, pars circum pectora lapsae
     sībila dant saniemque vomunt linguīsque coruscant.

     The disturbed snakes hissed
     and a part sit on the shoulders, a part, fallen down to the breast,
     give hisses and vomit blood and flutter with their tongues.

   • c. 100 CE – c. 130 CE, Juvenal, Satires 3.234–236:

     Scinduntur tunicae sartae modo, longa coruscat
     serrācō veniente abiēs, atque altera pīnum
     plaustra vehunt.

     Tunics just mended are torn, the long pine log
     shakes as its waggon nears, and another cart
     is carrying a pine tree.

   • 3rd C. CE, Tertullian, De pudicitia 14, in Quinti Septimi Florentis Tertulliani opera (volume I), August Reifferscheid and Georg Wissowa, 1890, pages 248–249:

     Vidēmus itaque hōc in locō dīvīsam apostolī sevēritātem in quendam īnflātum et in quendam incestum, in alterum virgā, in alterum sententiā armātum. Virga, quam minābātur, sententia, quam exsequēbātur; illam adhūc coruscantem, hanc statim fulminantem, quā increpābat, qua damnābat.

     And so we see in this place the apostle's divided severity against someone haughty and someone unchaste, equipped with a rod against one and with words against the other. The rod, which he was threatening, the words, which he was saying; the former still shaking, the latter immediately fulminating, one with which he was rattling, one with which he was condemning.

3. (personal and rarely impersonal) to strike or flash lightning
   • 220 BCE – c. 130 BCE, Marcus Pacuvius, Tragic fragments 45.5:

     Flamma inter nūbēs coruscat, caelum tonitrū contremit.

     Fire strikes amongst clouds, the sky trembles with thunder.

   • c. 77 CE – 79 CE, Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia 2.43.112:

     […] et esse tonitrua inpactōrum ignium plāgās ideōque prōtinus coruscāre igneās nūbium rīmās.

     [And I agree that] thunderclaps are the blows of fires collided and that for that reason the fiery cracks of clouds flash lightning at once.

   • c. 125 CE – 180 CE, Apuleius, De mundo 15:

     Quippe ubi nūbēs adflīctrīx ignem, ut ignifera saxa adtrīta inter sē, dat, obtutus velōcius inlūstriōra contingit, audītus, dum ad aurēs venit, sēriōre sēnsū concipitur; ita prius coruscāre caelum crēditur et mox tonāre.

     Of course when a striking cloud emits fire, like flintstones rubbed against one another, the sight comes to the eyes faster; the sound is felt with tardier sense, until it reaches the ears; thus the sky is believed to flash lightning first and thunder soon after.

   • 4th C. CE, Saint Jerome, Vulgate Ezekiel 1:14:

     Et animālia ībant et revertēbantur, in similitūdinem fulguris coruscantis.

     And the beings went and came, like a striking lightning.

   • c. 540 CE – c. 554 CE, Cassiodorus, Expositio in Psalterium 127.1 in Patrologia Latina (volume 70), Jacques-Paul Migne, 1865, page 932:

     Sed nē forsitan timendum sōlummodo putārēs Dominum cum tonat, cum coruscat, cum terrās tremōre concutit, cum crīminōsīs minātur interitum, addidit, quī ambulant in viīs eius, ut non sōlum suspendāmur ab āctibus prāvīs, vērum etiam in fidē probēmur ambulāre rēctissimā.

     But so that you may not consider the Lord to be feared only when He thunders, when He strikes lightning, when he threatens the sinful with death, he added “that walketh in his ways”, so that we may not only doubt in the wrong acts, but that we may also be shown worthy in faith to walk on the straightest way.

4. (figurative, frequent) to flash, coruscate, gleam
   • c. 850 CE – 930 CE, Hucbald, Ecloga de calvis 142–143 in Monumenta Germaniae Historica (tome 4, fascicle 1), Paulus de Winterfeld, Berlin 1899, page 271:

     Collūcent calvī: calvōrum cassida candet,
     conrutilāns caelī ceu cōpia clāra coruscat.

     The bald are bright: their pate shines,
     glowing reddish it gleams like the brilliant fullness of the sky.

Conjugation

Conjugation of coruscō (first conjugation, active only)
indicative		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
active	present	coruscō	coruscās	coruscat	coruscāmus	coruscātis	coruscant
	imperfect	coruscābam	coruscābās	coruscābat	coruscābāmus	coruscābātis	coruscābant
	future	coruscābō	coruscābis	coruscābit	coruscābimus	coruscābitis	coruscābunt
	perfect	coruscāvī	coruscāvistī	coruscāvit	coruscāvimus	coruscāvistis	coruscāvērunt, coruscāvēre
	pluperfect	coruscāveram	coruscāverās	coruscāverat	coruscāverāmus	coruscāverātis	coruscāverant
	future perfect	coruscāverō	coruscāveris	coruscāverit	coruscāverimus	coruscāveritis	coruscāverint
subjunctive		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
active	present	coruscem	coruscēs	coruscet	coruscēmus	coruscētis	coruscent
	imperfect	coruscārem	coruscārēs	coruscāret	coruscārēmus	coruscārētis	coruscārent
	perfect	coruscāverim	coruscāverīs	coruscāverit	coruscāverīmus	coruscāverītis	coruscāverint
	pluperfect	coruscāvissem	coruscāvissēs	coruscāvisset	coruscāvissēmus	coruscāvissētis	coruscāvissent
imperative		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
active	present	—	coruscā	—	—	coruscāte	—
	future	—	coruscātō	coruscātō	—	coruscātōte	coruscantō
non-finite forms		active			passive
		present	perfect	future	present	perfect	future
infinitives		coruscāre	coruscāvisse	coruscātūrum esse	—	—	—
participles		coruscāns	—	coruscātūrus	—	—	—
verbal nouns		gerund				supine
		genitive	dative	accusative	ablative	accusative	ablative
		coruscandī	coruscandō	coruscandum	coruscandō	coruscātum	coruscātū

Derived terms

• concoruscō
• coruscāmen
• coruscātiō

Related terms

• coruscum
• coruscus

Descendants

• English: coruscate
• Italian: corruscare
• Spanish: coruscar
• Galician: coriscar

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Adjective

coruscō

1. dative/ablative masculine/neuter singular of coruscus

Noun

coruscō

1. dative/ablative singular of coruscum

References

• “corusco”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “corusco”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• corusco in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “coruscō” in volume 4, column 1074, line 15 in the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae (TLL Open Access), Berlin (formerly Leipzig): De Gruyter (formerly Teubner), 1900–present