mos Teutonicus

See also: mos teutonicus

Latin

FWOTD – 15 September 2017

Alternative forms

• mōs teutonicus

Etymology

mos (“custom”) + Teutonicus (“Teuton, German”). Although other peoples (including the French) sometimes practised it, the custom was most closely associated with the Germans.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /moːs teu̯ˈto.ni.kus/, [moːs̠ t̪ɛu̯ˈt̪ɔnɪkʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /mos teu̯ˈto.ni.kus/, [mɔs t̪eu̯ˈt̪ɔːnikus]

Noun

mōs Teutonicus m sg (genitive mōris Teutonicī); third declension

1. the medieval custom, common among Germans and some others who died in Muslim lands, of dismembering the body of a dead person, boiling the parts in water or wine to separate the flesh from the bones, and transporting the bones back to the person's homeland
   • 1735 September, Johannes Christianus Faber, Dissertatio Inauguralis de Conscensione Tori Conjugalis, page 28:

     […] , domum ac lectum Caroli VIII? observat BAELIUS, omnes ad MOREM TEUTONICUM respicientes Annam Britannicam habuisse pro uxore Maximiliani, […]

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 1777, Samuel Strykius, Usus moderni Pandectarum, continuatio tertia, libro XXIII usque ad XXXVIII, page 952:

     Et licet leges romanae circa testamenta sint recepta; tamen id fallit, ubi principium vel juris vel moris Teutonici repugnat.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Declension

Third-declension noun with a second-declension adjective, singular only.

Case	Singular
Nominative	mōs Teutonicus
Genitive	mōris Teutonicī
Dative	mōrī Teutonicō
Accusative	mōrem Teutonicum
Ablative	mōre Teutonicō
Vocative	mōs Teutonice