The corpus record — Latin

caenum

mud,filth,slime

Generated live from the audited Latin corpus — every figure on this page is a database query, not prose from memory.

Where it lives

Cupido cruciatur 1 · 13.57/10k
Mosella 2 · 6.15/10k
In P. Vatinium testem interrogatio 2 · 4.45/10k
Vitellius 1 · 4.15/10k
In L. Calpurnium Pisonem 3 · 2.75/10k
Ibis 1 · 2.54/10k
Octavia 1 · 1.91/10k
Poenulus 2 · 1.81/10k
de Origine et Situ Germanorum Liber 1 · 1.81/10k
Psychomachia 1 · 1.67/10k
De Spectaculis 1 · 1.57/10k
In Eutropium 1 · 1.39/10k

Densest 12 of 61 attested works shown, by occurrences per 10,000 attested tokens.

What it meant

1. caenum — de Vaan

caenum 'mud,filth,slime' [η. ο] (Ρ1.+) The relationship of caenum with cumre 'to shit', in-quindre 'to soil', which has been proposed e.g. by WH and which presupposes original o-grade *£ο/πο-, is formally impossible unless by means of speculative assumptions (cf Schrijver 1991). The connection with Swe.dial. hven, OIc. *hvein (in place-names) 'low, marshy field'?, Latv. svinit 'to soil oneself is invalidated by the … — [de Vaan, s.v. caenum, p. 95]

2. caenum — Lewis & Short

caenum (less correctly coenum), i, n.cunio,

I dirt, filth, mud, mire (always with access. idea of loathsomeness, diff. from limus, lutum, etc.: omnes stultos insanire, ut male olere omne caenum, Cic. Tusc. 4, 24, 54; freq. and class. in prose and poetry); prop.: pulchrum ornatum turpes mores pejus caeno collinunt, Plaut. Most. 1, 3, 133; cf. id. Poen. 1, 2, 93; 4, 2, 4; Cic. Att. 2, 21, 4; Cic. Verr. 2, 5, 68, § 173; Lucr. 6, 977; Verg. G. 4, 49; id. A. 6, 296; Ov. M. 1, 418; * Hor. S. 2, 7, 27; Curt. 3, 13, 11; 4, 3, 25; Tac. A. 1, 73; *Suet. Vit. 17: cloacarum, Col. 2, 15, 6; 7, 4, 6; Plin. 31, 6, 32, § 61; Stat. Th. 9, 502; Paul. Sent. 5, 4, 13.— Prov.: mordicus petere e caeno cibum, Lucil. ap. Non. p. 138, 22.—

II Trop., filth, dirt, uncleanness: ut eum ex lutulento caeno propere hinc eliciat foras (sc. ex amore meretricum), Plaut. Bacch. 3, 1, 17: in tenebris volvi caenoque, Lucr. 3, 77; cf.: ex caeno plebeio consulatum extrahere, Liv. 10, 15, 9.—Also as a term of reproach, dirty fellow, vile fellow, Plaut. Pers. 3, 3, 3; id. Ps. 1, 3, 132; Cic. Sest. 8, 20; id. Dom. 18, 47.

In the wild

6 of 111 attestations shown.

Where it came from

de Vaan, Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Brill 2008) Treated in de Vaan, Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Brill 2008) s.v. caenum (scan p. 95; entry #175).
Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine Treated in Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine s.v. caenum (scan p. 108; entry #1495).

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Latin text and lemmatization derived from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-latinLit), CC BY-SA 4.0. Lewis & Short (public domain) via Perseus. This derived data is shared under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 license.