subductisupercilicarptor

Latin edit

Etymology edit

Coined by Laevius, from subdūcō (I raise) +‎ supercilium (eyebrow) +‎ carptor (a criticizer).

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

subductisupercilicarptor m (genitive subductisupercilicarptōris); third declension

  1. (hapax, humorous) an overly critical or censorious person, an eyebrow-raising fault-finder
    • c. 177 CE, Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticae 19.7:
      Cetera enim, quae videbantur nimium poetica, ex prosae orationis usu alieniora praetermisimus; veluti fuit quod de Nestore ait "trisaeclisenex" et "dulciorelocus", item quod de tumidis magnisque fluctibus "fluctibus," inquit, "multigrumis" et flumina gelu concreta "tegmine" esse "onychino" dixit et quae multiplica ludens conposuit, quale illud est, quod vituperones suos "subductisupercilicarptores" appellavit.
      But others we passed over as too poetic and unsuited to use in prose; for example, when he calls Nestor trisaeclisenex, or “an old man who had lived three generations” and dulciorelocus isle, or “that sweet-mouthed speaker,” when he calls great swelling waves multigruma, or “great-hillocked,” and says that rivers congealed by the cold have an onychinum tegimen, or “an onyx covering”; also his many humorous multiple compounds, as when he calls his detractors subductisupercilicarptores, or “carpers with raised eye-brows.”

Declension edit

Third-declension noun.

Case Singular Plural
Nominative subductisupercilicarptor subductisupercilicarptōrēs
Genitive subductisupercilicarptōris subductisupercilicarptōrum
Dative subductisupercilicarptōrī subductisupercilicarptōribus
Accusative subductisupercilicarptōrem subductisupercilicarptōrēs
Ablative subductisupercilicarptōre subductisupercilicarptōribus
Vocative subductisupercilicarptor subductisupercilicarptōrēs

References edit