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cavus. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
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English
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from Latin cavus (“a hollow, hole”). Doublet of cave and cavum.
Pronunciation
Noun
cavus (plural cavi)
- (geology) In planetary geology, an irregular steep-sided depression that does not seem to be an impact crater.
Anagrams
Latin
Etymology
From Proto-Italic *kawos, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *ḱowh₁ós (“hollow”), from *ḱewh₁- (“to swell”).[1] Related to Old Irish cúas (“hollow, cavity”), Tocharian B kor (“throat”), Albanian cup (“odd, uneven”), Ancient Greek κῠ́ᾰρ (kŭ́ăr, “eye of needle, earhole”), Old Armenian սոր (sor, “hole”), Sanskrit शून्य (śūnya, “empty, barren, zero”), Etruscan 𐌂𐌀𐌅𐌄𐌈 (caveθ). Further related to Proto-Germanic *hūnaz (“outgrowth, swelling; block of wood; offspring”), whence English hune and hound (“projection on a masthead, foretop; bar”).
Pronunciation
Adjective
cavus (feminine cava, neuter cavum, comparative cavior); first/second-declension adjective
- hollow, hollowed out, cavernous, concave
- Antonym: plēnus
29 BCE – 19 BCE,
Virgil,
Aeneid 1.81–82:
- Haec ubi dicta, cavum conversā cuspide montem
impulit in latus .- As soon as these words were said, , with lance-head turned over, struck the hollow mountain on side .
(The A-B-B-A pattern known as chiasmus: “cavum conversa cuspide montem.” This example separates the adjective “cavum” from its noun “montem,” and creates rhythmical alliteration and consonance through three successive hard “c” sounds. In addition, the Latin word order in lines 81-82 builds tension: The reader first pictures the hollow mountain, next the king dramatically overturning his spear towards it, and lastly striking his spear against the mountainside.)
- excavated, channeled
- vain, empty
- Synonym: inānis
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Inflection
First/second-declension adjective.
Derived terms
Noun
cavus m (genitive cavī); second declension
- Alternative form of cavum.
Inflection
Second-declension noun.
Descendants
References
- Pokorny, Julius (1959) Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume 2, Bern, München: Francke Verlag, page 592
- “cavus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “cavus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- cavus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
- cavus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
- ^ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “cavus”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 101-2