mancus

English

Etymology

Latinized form of Arabic منقوش (manqūsh). (This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

mancus (plural mancuses)

1. (historical) A gold coin used in medieval Europe.
2. (historical) An equivalent unit of monetary account.

Synonyms

• mancosus

Anagrams

• Camuns, Cumans

Latin

Etymology

Probably from Proto-Indo-European *mh₂n-ko- (“maimed in the hand”), from *méh₂-r̥ ~ *mh₂-én- (“hand”), with semantic shift "hand" > "handy" > "handicapped, having a defect of the hand". Cognates include manus and Old Norse mund (“hand”).

An alternate theory derives the word from Proto-Indo-European *menk- (“to lack”), comparing Lithuanian meñkas (“poor, small”) and Tocharian B mänk- (“to be deprived of, lack”). These root of these words is sometimes reconstructed instead as *men- (“small, isolated”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈman.kus/, [ˈmäŋkʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈman.kus/, [ˈmäŋkus]

Adjective

mancus (feminine manca, neuter mancum); first/second-declension adjective

1. maimed, crippled, handicapped, infirm
2. defective, imperfect

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

Number	Singular				Plural
Case / Gender	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter		Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	mancus	manca	mancum		mancī	mancae	manca
Genitive	mancī	mancae	mancī		mancōrum	mancārum	mancōrum
Dative	mancō		mancō		mancīs
Accusative	mancum	mancam	mancum		mancōs	mancās	manca
Ablative	mancō	mancā	mancō		mancīs
Vocative	mance	manca	mancum		mancī	mancae	manca

Descendants

• Albanian: mënk
• Catalan: manc
• French: manchot, manque
• Italian: monco, manco, manca
  • → German: Manko
  • → English: mank
  • → Polish: manko
• Portuguese: manco
• Romanian: mânc
• Sicilian: mancu
• Spanish: manco

Further reading

• “mancus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “mancus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• mancus 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)
• mancus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.