LOGOI

The corpus record — Latin

ulcus

ulcus

ulcer

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

Where it lives

  • De Medicina 208 · 20.29/10k
  • Naturalis Historia 355 · 8.96/10k
  • De agri cultura 8 · 5.11/10k
  • Epigrammata Ausonii de diversis rebus 1 · 2.74/10k
  • De Tranquillitate Animi 2 · 2.65/10k
  • de Bello Gothico 1 · 2.48/10k
  • Saturae 1 · 2.21/10k
  • De Patientia 1 · 2.21/10k
  • Res Rustica, Books I-IX 17 · 2.16/10k
  • Psychomachia 1 · 1.67/10k
  • De Brevitate Vitae 1 · 1.62/10k
  • Hamartigenia 1 · 1.56/10k

Densest 12 of 35 attested works shown, by occurrences per 10,000 attested tokens.

What it meant

1. ulcus — de Vaan

ulcus 'ulcer', assuming a semantic development 'to grow sores (against someone)' > 'avenge one's griefs'. This is not compelling either (cf Keller 1992: 257). Schrijver is reluctant to accept an equation with Gr. όλέκω 'to destroy', a ^-enlargement to the root *h3lhr; but semantically, this seems the best option. PIE *h3lhrk- would yield Lat. *M- according to Schnjver's rules (1991: 304ff,), but *h3olhrlo > *hsolk- … — [de Vaan, s.v. ulcus, p. 651]

2. ulcus — Lewis & Short

ulcus (hulc-), ĕris, n.e(/lkos,

I a sore, ulcer.
I Lit., Cels. 5, 9; 5, 14; 5, 26, n. 31; 5, 28, n. 6 al.; Plin. 23, 6, 60, § 112; 23, 9, 81, § 161; 22, 23, 49, § 103; Lucr. 6, 1148; 6, 1166; Verg. G. 3, 454; Hor. Ep. 1, 16, 24; Pers. 3, 113 al.—Prov.: ulcus tangere, to touch a sore spot, touch on a delicate subject, Ter. Phorm. 4, 4, 9.—
B Transf., of trees, an excrescence, Plin. 17, 24, 37, § 227: montium hulcera, i. e. marble quarries, id. 36, 15, 24, § 125.—
II Trop.: ulcus (i. e. amor) enim vivescit et inveterascit alendo, Lucr. 4, 1068: quicquid horum attigeris, ulcus est, it will prove a sore place, i. e. will turn out absurd, Cic. N. D. 1, 37, 104: si tu in hoc ulcere tamquam inguen exsisteres, id. Dom. 5, 12.

3. ulcus — Walde–Hofmann

ulcus, -eris n. ,Geschwür^ (seit Plaut, Pacuv., Acc. usw.); ulcusculum, -à n. „kleines Geschwür" (seit Cels); wicerü, -üre ,verwunde* (seit Cic., ebenso exulcerd; ulcerätus, -a, -um seit Aug.; ulcerätiö, -Onis f. „Verwundung“ seit Sen.); ulceräria, -ae f. 'marubium’ (Ps. Apul. herb. 46, Ps. Diosc.); ulcerüsus, -a, -um „schwärend“ (seit Plt. und Nov.); wlcerulentus, -a, -um ds. (seit Fulg): aus *elkos = gr. &xog n. … — [Walde–Hofmann, s.v. ulcus, p. 1719]

In the wild

6 of 639 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. ulcus (scan pp. 651-652; entry #1866). Root candidates: *hsolk-, *h3olhrk-, *h2elk-.
  • Walde-Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches Worterbuch Treated in Walde-Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches Worterbuch s.v. ulcus (scan p. 1719; entry #3298).

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.