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tescum. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
tescum, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
tescum in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
tescum you have here. The definition of the word
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Latin
Etymology
Uncertain and lacking agreement on the precise meaning. Possibly from Proto-Indo-European *ters- (“dry”), with regular simplification of *-rs- > /s/ before a voiceless consonant (compare testis). Compare pāscuum for the formation. The c in the plural is likely to be analogical after the regular /kʷum > kum/ in the singular. A connection with Proto-Indo-European *tews- (“to be empty”), the source of Sanskrit तुच्छ (tuccha, “empty”), is rejected by De Vaan, who mentions Dunkel's proposal that teskʷ- is derived by dissimilation from twes-kʷ- but points out that *twes- is not an ablaut grade of this root.[1]
Pronunciation
Noun
tescum n (genitive tescī); second declension
- (chiefly in the plural) wilderness, wasteland, desert
Declension
Second-declension noun (neuter).
References
- ^ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “tescum”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 617:
The connection with Skt. tucchyá- 'empty' is impossible, since the root has ablaut grade I *teus-. Dunkel 2000b: 21 posits *tu̯es-kʷo-, which would have yielded *teskʷo- by dissimilation of the first labial glide; but the ablaut and the meaning make a connection with *teus- difficult. Alternatively, one might think of *ters-kwo- to torreō, that is, 'arid soil' vel sim.