corvus

See also: Corvus

English

Etymology

Latin corvus

Noun

corvus (plural corvuses or corvi)

1. (historical) A hooked ram for destroying walls.
2. (historical) A grappling hook in Ancient Roman naval warfare.

   Synonym: harpago

Latin

corvus (a raven)

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *korwos, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱorh₂wós, imitative of harsh sounds (compare Middle Irish crú, Lithuanian šárka (“magpie”), Serbo-Croatian svrȁka (“magpie”), Ancient Greek κόραξ (kórax), Old English hræfn), from *ḱer- (compare Latin crepō (“I creak, crack”), Sanskrit कृपते (kṛ́pate, “he laments, implores”)) + *-wós (whence Latin -vus).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈkor.u̯us/, [ˈkɔru̯ʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈkor.vus/, [ˈkɔrvus]

Noun

corvus m (genitive corvī); second declension

1. A raven; a bird associated with prophecy and sacred to Apollo.
2. (nautical) A gangplank, used in Roman naval combat for boarding enemy ships.

Declension

Second-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	corvus	corvī
Genitive	corvī	corvōrum
Dative	corvō	corvīs
Accusative	corvum	corvōs
Ablative	corvō	corvīs
Vocative	corve	corvī

Coordinate terms

• (nautical): harpagō, harpax

Derived terms

• corvīnus
• Corvus
• in cruce corvōs pāscere

Descendants

• → Albanian: korb
• Aromanian: corbu
• Asturian: cuervu, cuorvu, cuirvu
• Catalan: corb
• → Esperanto: korvo
• Friulian: corvat
• → English: corvus (learned)
• Italian: corvo
• ⇒ Late Latin: corbellus, corvellus
  • Old French: corbel
    • Middle English: corbel
      • English: corbel
    • Middle French: corbeau
      • French: corbeau
      • → English: corbie
      • → Scots: corbie
• Old French: corf, corb, corp, crop
• Old Galician-Portuguese: corvo
  • Fala: colvu, corvu
  • Galician: corvo
  • Portuguese: corvo
• Old Occitan:
  • Occitan: còrb
• Portuguese: corvo
• Romanian: corb
• Romansch: corv
• Sardinian: colbu, crobu, colvu, corbu, corvu
• Sicilian: corvu, corbu
• → Scots: corbie
• Spanish: cuervo
• → Translingual: Corvus
• Venetian: corvo, corf

See also

• Corvus (boarding device) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

References

• “corvus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “corvus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• corvus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “corvus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “corvus”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray
• “corvus”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin