The corpus record — Latin

pecus2

pecus2 · n

cattle

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

Where it lives

Eclogues 17 · 37.46/10k
Carmen Saeculare 1 · 32.36/10k
Georgicon 35 · 24.73/10k
Res Rustica, Books I-IX 192 · 24.39/10k
Epodon 5 · 16.63/10k
Appendix Vergiliana 1 · 9.12/10k
de Origine et Situ Germanorum Liber 5 · 9.07/10k
Dittochaeon 1 · 8.17/10k
Elegiae 10 · 8.1/10k
Ephemeris id est totius diei negotium 1 · 7.71/10k
Culex, Appendix Vergiliana 2 · 7.65/10k
Cento Nuptialis 1 · 7.33/10k

Densest 12 of 180 attested works shown, by occurrences per 10,000 attested tokens.

What it meant

1. pĕcus — Lewis & Short

pĕcus, pecŏris, n.Zend, pacu, cattle; cf. Goth. faihu; Angl.-Sax. feó, cattle; Germ. Vieh; Engl. fee. Fick refers the word to root pag- of pango, etc.,

I cattle, as a collective, a herd (opp.: pecus, pecudis, a single head of cattle).

I Lit.

A In gen.: bubulum pecus, horned cattle, Varr. R. R. 2, 1, 13; Col. 6, 13, 2: ovile, sheep, id. 1 prooem.: caprile, id. ib.: pecus majus et minus ... de pecore majore, in quo sunt ad tres species naturā discreti, boves, asini, equi, Varr. R. R. 2, 1, 12: equinum, a stud, Verg. G. 3, 72: setigerum pecus, the bristly herd, i. e. the herd of swine, Ov. M. 14, 288: flammatum pecus, the thirsty steeds, Stat. Th. 4, 733: volatile pecus, fowls, hens, Col. 8, 4: ignavum fucos pecus a praesepibus arcent, i. e. the drones, Verg. G. 4, 168.—So of bees, Col. 9, 8, 6.—Of seals: omne cum Proteus pecus egit altos Visere montes, Hor. C. 1, 2, 7; cf. of fish: aquatile, Col. 8, 17, 7.—

B In partic, of sheep, small cattle, a flock: pecori et bubus diligenter substernatur. Scabiem pecori et jumentis caveto (shortly after: frondem substernito ovibus bubusque), Cato, R. R. 5, 7: boni pastoris est pecus tondere non deglubere, Tiber. ap. Suet. Tib. 32: balatus pecorum, Verg. G. 3, 554; Plin. 8, 47, 72, § 187.—

II Transf.

A Of a single animal: inque pecus magnae subito vertare parentis = pecudem, the young lion, Ov. Ib. 459; Mos. et Rom. Leg. Coll. 6, 7, 9.—In late and eccl. lat. the distinction between pecus, f., and pecus, n., nearly disappears, and the latter is found in all senses of the words; cf. Vulg. Lev. 20, 15; id. 2 Par. 14, 15; id. Isa. 66, 3.—

B Contemptuously, or as a term of abuse, of persons, cattle: mutum et turpe pecus, Hor. S. 1, 3, 100: o imitatores, servum pecus, id. Ep. 1, 19, 19: simul ite, Dindymenae dominae vaga pecora, Cat. 63, 13: sed venale pecus Corythae posteritas, Juv. 8, 62.

2. pĕcus — Lewis & Short

pĕcus, ŭdis (

I masc.: pecudi marito, Enn. ap. Prisc. p. 659 P. or Trag. v. 336 Vahl.—Nom. sing., Caesar ap. Prisc. p. 719; cf. Charis. p. 72.—Plur. collat. form, neutr., pecuda, Att., Sisenn., and Cic. ap. Non. 159, 11; v. infra), f. same root with pecu and pecus, ŏris, a single head of cattle, a beast, brute, animal, one of a herd (opp.: pecus, pecŏris, cattle collectively; different from animal, which includes man).

I Lit.

A In gen.: Neptuni pecudes terrestres pecudes, Plaut. Ps. 3, 2, 45: squammigerum pecudes, the fishes, Lucr. 2, 343: genus aequoreum, pecudes pictaeque volucres, land animals, Verg. G. 3, 243: genera pecudum ferarum, Varr. R. R. 2, 1: anates buxeis rostris pecudes, Varr. ap. Non. 460, 9: quā pecude (sc. sue) nihil genuit natura fecundius, Cic. N. D. 2, 64, 160: quantum natura hominis pecudibus reliquisque bestiis antecedat, domestic animals, id. Off. 1, 30, 105: ista non modo homines, sed ne pecudes quidem mihi passurae esse videntur, id. Cat. 2, 9, 20; id. Att. 1, 16, 6.—Plur. neutr. pecuda: vagant, pavore pecuda in tumulis deserunt, Att. ap. Non. 159, 11; Sisenn. ap. Non. 159, 17: cum adhibent in pecuda pastores, Cic. Fragm. ap. Non. 159, 13.—

B In partic.

1 A head of small cattle, one of a flock: at variae crescunt pecudes armenta feraeque, Lucr. 5, 228.—

2 A sheep: haedi cornigeras norunt matres, agnique petulci balantum pecudes, Lucr. 2, 369; Ov. F. 4, 903: pecudem spondere sacello Balantem, Juv. 13, 232: pecus et caprae, Plin. 24, 11, 53, § 90.—

3 Collectively, = 1. pecus, id genus pecudis, horses, Col. 6, 27, 13.—

II Transf., as a term of reproach for an ignorant, stupid, or filthy person, a beast, brute: istius, pecudis ac putidae carnis consilium, Cic. Pis. 9, 19: istius impurissimae atque intemperantissimae pecudis sordes, id. ib. 29, 72; id. Phil. 8, 3, 9; cf.: Gaius Caesar pecudem auream eum appellare solitus est, Tac. A. 13, 1.

3. pĕcus — Lewis & Short

pĕcus, ūs, m., i. q. 1. pecus, Lucil. ap.

Gell. 20, 8, 4.

In the wild

pecorum Livy, Ab urbe condita, books 1-5 - 4 p30
pecore Cicero, De Lege Agraria 2.38
pecus Columella, Res Rustica, Books I-IX 6.34.1
pecori Livy, Ab urbe condita 1.3.6.2
pecus Ausonius, Epigrammata Ausonii de diversis rebus 5.2
pecudes Seneca, De Vita Beata 7.5.1

6 of 1,163 attestations shown.

Where it came from

Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine Treated in Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine s.v. pecus (scan p. 515; entry #8427).

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.