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hircus. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
hircus, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
hircus in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
hircus you have here. The definition of the word
hircus will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
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Latin
Alternative forms
Etymology
Unknown. As with other Indo-European words for “goat”, a reliable Proto-Indo-European etymon cannot be formally reconstructed. Nonetheless, compare Old High German irah, irh (“buck”), which Pokorny says is borrowed from the Latin.
Possibly related to hirpus (“wolf”) and/or hirtus (“hairy, shaggy”); according to Pokorny, all three are from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰers- (“to bristle”).
Pronunciation
Noun
hircus m (genitive hircī); second declension
- a buck, male goat
- (by extension) the rank smell of the armpits
- (figuratively) a filthy person
Declension
Second-declension noun.
Synonyms
Related terms
Descendants
References
- “hircus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “hircus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- hircus 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)
- hircus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
- De Vaan, Michiel (2008) Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 286