The corpus record — Latin

valgus

bow-legged, with x-formed legs

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

Where it lives

De Bello Hispaniensi 1 · 1.65/10k
Elegiae 1 · 0.81/10k
Miles Gloriosus 1 · 0.79/10k
Satyrarum libri 1 · 0.7/10k
Noctes Atticae 2 · 0.18/10k
Historiae Alexandri Magni 1 · 0.13/10k
Institutio Oratoria 2 · 0.12/10k
Ad Lucilium Epistulae Morales 1 · 0.08/10k
Naturalis Historia 1 · 0.03/10k

What it meant

1. valgus — de Vaan

valgus 'bow-legged, with x-formed legs' [adj. o/a] (PL+) Has been connected with Skt. valgati (AV+) 4to move up and down', Khot valj- 'to go astray, be deceived', OE wealcan *to roll, move to and fro' < *uol(H)g-. Yet the main characteristic of 'bow-legged' is the crookedness of the legs, not 'going up and down' or 'to and fro'. In addition, valgus cannot phonetically continue *wolgr. Bibl.: WH II: 728, EM 712, IEW … — [de Vaan, s.v. valgus, p. 666]

2. valgus — Lewis & Short

valgus, a, um, adj.root varg, to turn awry, twist; Sanscr. vrginas, twisted; cf. ruga, for fruga, and Anglo-Sax. wrinkle,

I having the calves of the legs bent outwards, bow-legged.

I Lit.: valgos Opilius Aurelius aliique complures aiunt dici, qui diversas suras habeant, Fest. p. 375 Müll.; cf. Cels. 8, 20; Plaut. Fragm. ap. Fest. l. l.; Nov. ap. Non. 25, 12.—*

II Transf.: suavia, wry mouths, Plaut. Mil. 2, 1, 16.—Cf. adv.: valgĭter, awry, wryly: valgiter commovebat labra, Petr. 26: obtorto valgiter labello, id. Fragm. ap. Fulg. Prisc. serm. 566, 2.

In the wild

Valgius Seneca, Ad Lucilium Epistulae Morales 5.51.1
Valgius Horace, Satyrarum libri 1.10.82
Valgius Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia 25.2.p1
Valgius Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria 3.1.18
Valgius Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria 5.10.4
Valgius Tibullus, Elegiae 3.7.180

6 of 11 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. valgus (scan p. 666; entry #1913). Root candidates: *udg-, *ulH-.
Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine Treated in Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine s.v. ualgus (scan p. 736; entry #12297).

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.