nux

See also: Nüx

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *knuks, from a root *knu- also found in Proto-Celtic *knūs (source of Irish cnó) and Proto-Germanic *hnuts (source of English nut). Based on the form of the nouns and the restriction of the root to Germanic, Celtic and Italic, it has been argued to be of non-Indo-European origin. De Vaan suggests that it is related to nūgae (“trifles”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /nuks/, [nʊks̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /nuks/, [nuks]

Noun

nux f (genitive nucis); third declension

1. nut
2. nut tree

   Inter primas germinant ulmus, salix, nuces.

   Among the first to sprout are the elm, the willow, and the nut tree.

3. a fruit with a hard shell or rind

   nux amara ― a bitter almond

   castaneae nuces ― chestnuts

   nux pinea ― the fruit of the tithymalus

4. (figuratively) a thing of no value
   • c. 206 BCE, Plautus, Miles Gloriosus 2.3.45:

     Nōn ego tuam empsim vītam vitiosā nuce.

     I should not have bought your life with a vicious worthless thing.

5. (poetic) almond tree

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	nux	nucēs
Genitive	nucis	nucum
Dative	nucī	nucibus
Accusative	nucem	nucēs
Ablative	nuce	nucibus
Vocative	nux	nucēs

Synonyms

• (a thing of no value): res vel vilissima

Derived terms

• in nuce (“in a nutshell”)
• nuceus
• nucicla
• nucifer
• nucifrangibulum
• nucinus
• nucipersicum
• nuciprūnum
• nucleus
• nucunculus
• nucāmenta
• nucēs relinquō (“I give up childish sports”)
• nucētum
• nux cassa (“nutshell”)
• nux indica
• nux muscata
• nux vomica

 

Related terms

• nucleō
• nucleātus
• nucleolus

Descendants

• Balkan Romance:
  • Aromanian: nuc m, nucã f
  • Romanian: nuc m, nucă f
• Dalmatian:
  • nauc
• Italo-Romance:
  • Corsican: noce
  • Italian: noce m or f
  • Neapolitan: noce
  • Sicilian: nuci
• Padanian:
  • Ligurian: nôxe
  • Romagnol: nôș m, nôșa f
  • Romansch: nusch m
  • Venetian: nóxa
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Franco-Provençal: noués
  • French: noix
  • Occitan: notz, nose, noga
• Insular Romance:
  • Sardinian: nuche, nughe, nuge, nugi
• Vulgar Latin:
  • *nocem
    • Gallo-Romance:
      • Catalan: nou, anou (Alicante)
      • Gascon: nòde, nòtz
      • Occitan: nòse (all southern dialects)
    • Ibero-Romance:
      • Aragonese: nuez

        Ribagorçan: nou, anou; nuesa (Benasqués)

      • Asturian: nuaz, nuoz, anuez, nuez, ñuez
      • Old Galician-Portuguese: [Term?]
        • Galician: noz, anoz, noce
        • Portuguese: noz, nuace (Rio de Onor)
      • Old Spanish: [Term?]
        • Ladino: muez
        • Spanish: nuez
• Borrowings:
  • → Esperanto: nukso
  • → Ido: nuco

References

• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “nŭx”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), volumes 7: N–Pas, page 257

Further reading

• “nux”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “nux”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• nux 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)
• nux in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “nux”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers

Zhuang

Pronunciation

• (Standard Zhuang) IPA^(key): /nu˦˨/
• Tone numbers: nu⁴
• Hyphenation: nux

Noun

nux (1957–1982 spelling nuч)

1. leprosy

Derived terms

• baenznux