The corpus record — Latin

uncus2

hook

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

Where it lives

Commodus Antoninus 21 · 60.61/10k
Vitellius 1 · 4.15/10k
Tiberius 3 · 3.3/10k
Georgicon 4 · 2.83/10k
Pro C. Rabirio Perduellionis Reo Ad Quirites 1 · 2.82/10k
De agri cultura 4 · 2.56/10k
Ibis 1 · 2.54/10k
Saturae 1 · 2.21/10k
Peristephanon Liber 3 · 1.71/10k
Oedipus 1 · 1.69/10k
Psychomachia 1 · 1.67/10k
Thebais 10 · 1.6/10k

Densest 12 of 45 attested works shown, by occurrences per 10,000 attested tokens.

What it meant

1. uncus — de Vaan

uncus 'hook' [m. o] (Cato+) Derivatives: uncus 'curved, hooked' adj. (Lucr.+), aduncus 'id' (Enn.+); inuncare 'to catch on a hook' (Lucil.+). Pit *onko-. PIE *h2onk-o- 'hook\ IE cognates: Skt. afiko- [m.] 'hook, clamp', Gr. δγκος 'barb of an arrow', όγκη 'angle, comer' (Hsch.), Lith. (diaL) anka [f] 'loop, noose, ring', Latv. (dial.) anka 'line used to fasten a sail to the mast' (connection uncertain on … — [de Vaan, s.v. uncus, p. 654]

2. uncus — Lewis & Short

uncus, i, m.Sanscr. root ak, ankami, bend; Gr. a)gkw/n, o)/gkos; cf.: ancus, ungulus,

I a hook, barb.

I In gen., Liv. 30, 10, 16; Col. 3, 18, 2: ferrei, Cato, R. R. 10; 13.—As an attribute of Necessitas, Hor. C. 1, 35, 20.—Poet., an anchor, Val. Fl. 2, 428.—

II In partic.

A A hook that was fastened to the neck of condemned criminals, and by which they were dragged to the Tiber, Cic. Phil. 1, 2, 5; id. rab. Perd. 5, 16; Ov. Ib. 168; Juv. 10, 66; cf.: et bene cum fixum mento discusseris uncum, Nil erit hoc: rostro te premet ansa suo, Prop. 4 (5), 1, 141. —

B A surgical instrument, Cels. 7, 29.

3. uncus — Lewis & Short

uncus, a, um, adj.1. uncus,

I hooked, bent in, crooked, curved, barbed (poet. and in post-Aug. prose; syn.: curvus, recurvus): uncus hamus, Ov. M. 15, 476; also called unca aera, id. P. 2, 7, 10: cornua (tauri), Prop. 2, 5, 19: aratrum, Verg. G. 1, 19; Ov. M. 5, 341; 7, 210; cf.: vomer aratri, Lucr. 1, 313; also called dens, Verg. G. 2, 423: pedes (harpyiae), id. A. 3, 233: ungues, Lucr. 5, 1322: manus, Verg. G. 2, 365: digiti, Col. 7, 11, 2: cauda, Ov. M. 15, 371: labrum, Lucr. 4, 588; 5, 1407.—

II Transf.: unco non alligat ancora morsu, Verg. A. 1, 169: avis Minervae, i. e. with crooked beak and talons, Stat. Th. 3, 507; cf. alites, id. ib. 12, 212.

4. uncus — Walde–Hofmann

uncus, -z, -um „gekrümmt*; Subst. „Haken“ (dies das Ursprgl, nach Muller Ait. Wb. 29) (seit Cato), uneinus, - m. , Widerhaken* und uncinátus, -a, -um „mit Widerhaken versehen“ (seit Cic., rom., ebenso *uncia, Meyer-Lübke n. 9053, uneinätim : ab uncó Non. p. 139, uneinulus, -i m. seit Querol), uncdlis, -e Cael. Aur. (= fputtdónc), uncátio f. seit Cael. Aur. (ypünwarg), ancätus, -a, -um (seit Ps. Apul), Demin! alat. … — [Walde–Hofmann, s.v. uncus, p. 1724]

In the wild

6 of 145 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. uncus (scan pp. 654-655; entry #1875). Root candidates: *onko-, *h2enk-.
Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine Treated in Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine s.v. uncus (scan p. 770; entry #12859).
Walde-Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches Worterbuch Treated in Walde-Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches Worterbuch s.v. uncus (scan p. 1724; entry #3310).

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.