punctus

English

Etymology

From Medieval Latin punctus (“punctuation mark”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpʌŋktəs/

Noun

punctus

1. (palaeography) The basic dot (‧) used to end a sentence in medieval punctuation (ancestral to the full stop/period).
   • 1993, Malcolm Beckwith Parkes, Pause and Effect‎^[1], Plates and Commentaries, page 197:

     In the sacerdotal prayers in col. a the punctuation is by punctus flexus, punctus elevatus and punctus.

   • 2011 July 22, Tadao Kudouchi, edited by Akio Oizumi and Jacek Fisiak, English Historical Linguistics and Philology in Japan‎^[2], De Gruyter, →ISBN, page 172:

     The most common item of punctuation was the punctus or point.

   • 2015 August 31, “Medieval Manuscripts”, in Albrecht Classen, editor, Handbook of Medieval Culture‎^[3], volume 2, De Gruyter, →ISBN, page 1015:

     Curiously, the punctus versus was largely replaced with a punctus by ca.1100.

See also

• punctus circumflexus
• punctus elevatus
• punctus flexus
• punctus interrogativus
• punctus percontativus
• punctus versus

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈpuːnk.tus/, [ˈpuːŋkt̪ʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈpunk.tus/, [ˈpuŋkt̪us]

Etymology 1

Perfect passive participle of pungō (“I prick, puncture, punch”).

Participle

pūnctus (feminine pūncta, neuter pūnctum, adverb pūnctim); first/second-declension participle

1. pricked, punctured, pierced, having been pricked.
2. marked with points; stippled.
3. stung, bitten, pinched, having been affected sensibly.
4. vexed, annoyed, grieved, troubled, disturbed, having been vexed or annoyed.

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

	singular				plural
	masculine	feminine	neuter		masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	pūnctus	pūncta	pūnctum		pūnctī	pūnctae	pūncta
genitive	pūnctī	pūnctae	pūnctī		pūnctōrum	pūnctārum	pūnctōrum
dative	pūnctō	pūnctae	pūnctō		pūnctīs
accusative	pūnctum	pūnctam	pūnctum		pūnctōs	pūnctās	pūncta
ablative	pūnctō	pūnctā	pūnctō		pūnctīs
vocative	pūncte	pūncta	pūnctum		pūnctī	pūnctae	pūncta

Derived terms

• interpūnctus
• pūnctillum
• pūnctiō
• pūnctulum
• pūnctum

Descendants

• Italo-Dalmatian:
  • Italian: punto, punta
  • Sicilian: puntu
  • Venetan: ponto
• Rhaeto-Romance:
  • Friulian: pont, ponte
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Catalan: punt, punta
  • Old French: point
    • Middle French: poinct
      • French: point, pointe
    • → Middle English: poynt
      • English: point
  • Occitan: ponch, poncha
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Asturian: puntu
  • Galician: punto, punta
  • Portuguese: ponto, ponta
  • Spanish: punto, punta
• Borrowings:
  • → Dutch: punt, bont
  • → German: Punkt, bunt (possibly)
    • → Hungarian: pont
      • → Romanian: pont
  • → Romanian: punct

Noun

pūnctus m (genitive pūnctī); second declension

1. (Late Latin, New Latin; also mathematics) point

   Alternative form: pūnctum n

Declension

Second-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	pūnctus	pūnctī
genitive	pūnctī	pūnctōrum
dative	pūnctō	pūnctīs
accusative	pūnctum	pūnctōs
ablative	pūnctō	pūnctīs
vocative	pūncte	pūnctī

Etymology 2

From pungō +‎ -tus.

Noun

pūnctus m (genitive pūnctūs); fourth declension

2. a pricking, stinging, puncture
3. (dubious) a point
   • Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia 2.68, Jean Hardouin, editor, Caii Plinii Secundi historiae naturalis libri XXXVII […], volume 1, published 1741, Paris, p. 107:

     Hae tot portiones terrae, immo vero, ut plures tradidere, ¹⁵mundi punctus: ( neque enim aliud est terra in universo: )

     Notae. [...] 15. Mundi punctus.] Acutum illud est Senecae dictum, lib. I. Natur. quaest. in prooem. pag. 831. Hoc est illud punctum, quod inter tot gentes ferro & igni dividitur. O quam ridiculi sunt mortalium termini, &c.

4. (Medieval Latin) punctuation mark

Usage notes

• (point): In older editions of Pliny mundi punctus (with punctus as a 4th-declension noun) appears, while in more recent editions it is mundi puncto (with punctum or punctus as 2nd-declension noun); compare Citations:puncto.

Declension

Fourth-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	pūnctus	pūnctūs
genitive	pūnctūs	pūnctuum
dative	pūnctuī	pūnctibus
accusative	pūnctum	pūnctūs
ablative	pūnctū	pūnctibus
vocative	pūnctus	pūnctūs

Synonyms

• (a pricking): pūnctiō
• (a point): pūnctum

Descendants

• → English: punctus

Related terms

• punctim
• punctiō
• punctiuncula
• punctūra
• pungō

References

• “punctus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• "punctus", 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)
• punctus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[4], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • in an instant: puncto temporis
    
  • to obtain many (few) votes in a century or tribe: multa (pauca) puncta in centuria (tribu) aliqua ferre